CVE-2018-9849
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedPulse Secure Pulse Connect Secure 8.1.x before 8.1R14, 8.2.x before 8.2R11, and 8.3.x before 8.3R5 do not properly process nested XML entities, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption and memory errors) via a crafted XML document.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidencePulse Connect Secure fails to properly restrict or sanitize nested XML entity expansion in its XML parser. Attackers can send crafted XML documents with recursive entities that cause exponential memory consumption, leading to memory errors and denial of service.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data>= 8.1, < 8.1r14>= 8.2, < 8.2r11>= 8.3, < 8.3r5CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Locate the installed Pulse Connect Secure versionLog into the admin web interface and navigate to System > Status, or run 'get system version' in the admin CLI. The version is typically displayed as something like 8.2R10 or 8.3R4.Affected if The displayed version falls within any of these ranges: 8.1.x before 8.1R14, 8.2.x before 8.2R11, or 8.3.x before 8.3R5.
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Confirm the full version string includes the release numberVerify whether the version string ends with an 'R' release number (for example, 8.2R10, not just 8.2). If only the base version number is visible, check the release notes or patches applied to determine the exact release level.Affected if The full version cannot be confirmed as 8.1R14, 8.2R11, 8.3R5 or later.
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Identify if XML processing features are in useCheck the Pulse Connect Secure admin UI under User > Resource Policies > Web or XML for any policies that accept XML-based requests. Also review any integration with third-party systems that send XML content through the gateway.Affected if XML parsing policies or XML-based authentication/resource access policies are configured and the version is vulnerable.
You are affected if your Pulse Connect Secure version is 8.1 through 8.1R13, 8.2 through 8.2R10, or 8.3 through 8.3R4, and XML input processing is enabled on the gateway.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor data8.1r148.2r118.3r5
Upgrade Pulse Connect Secure to version 8.1R14, 8.2R11, 8.3R5 or later. If immediate patching is not possible, consider restricting XML input or implementing XML parsing safeguards at upstream network devices.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-9849 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-9849 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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