CVE-2018-0171

10.0

HIGH CVSS 2.0

Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software Smart Install Remote Code Execution Vulnerability - [Actively Exploited]

Description

A vulnerability in the Smart Install feature of Cisco IOS Software and Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to trigger a reload of an affected device, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition, or to execute arbitrary code on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to improper validation of packet data. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted Smart Install message to an affected device on TCP port 4786. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause a buffer overflow on the affected device, which could have the following impacts: Triggering a reload of the device, Allowing the attacker to execute arbitrary code on the device, Causing an indefinite loop on the affected device that triggers a watchdog crash. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvg76186.

INFO

Published Date :

March 28, 2018, 10:29 p.m.

Last Modified :

Jan. 27, 2025, 7:58 p.m.

Remotely Exploit :

Yes !

Source :

[email protected]

CISA Notification

CISA KEV (Known Exploited Vulnerabilities)

For the benefit of the cybersecurity community and network defenders—and to help every organization better manage vulnerabilities and keep pace with threat activity—CISA maintains the authoritative source of vulnerabilities that have been exploited in the wild.

Due Date: May 03, 2022

Alert Date: Nov 03, 2021 | 1413 days ago

Description :

Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software improperly validates packet data, allowing an unauthenticated, remote attacker to trigger a reload of an affected device, cause a denial-of-service (DoS) condition, or perform code execution on the affected device.

Required Action :

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Notes :

https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-0171

Affected Products

The following products are affected by CVE-2018-0171 vulnerability. Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the products that are affected, the information is not represented in the table below.

ID	Vendor	Product	Action
1	Cisco	ios

: Total Affected Vendor : 1 | Products : 1

CVSS Scores

The Common Vulnerability Scoring System is a standardized framework for assessing the severity of vulnerabilities in software and systems. We collect and displays CVSS scores from various sources for each CVE.

Score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability Score	Impact Score	Source
	CVSS 2.0	HIGH				[email protected]
	CVSS 3.1	CRITICAL				[email protected]

Solution

This addresses a vulnerability in Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software's Smart Install feature, which could allow remote code execution.

Upgrade affected Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software to a fixed version.
Refer to Cisco bug ID(s) CSCvg76186 for specific patched versions.

Public PoC/Exploit Available at Github

CVE-2018-0171 has a 13 public PoC/Exploit available at Github. Go to the Public Exploits tab to see the list.

References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools

Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to CVE-2018-0171.

URL	Resource
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/103538	Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1040580	Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://ics-cert.us-cert.gov/advisories/ICSA-18-107-04	Third Party Advisory US Government Resource
https://ics-cert.us-cert.gov/advisories/ICSA-18-107-05	Third Party Advisory US Government Resource
https://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20180328-smi2	Vendor Advisory
https://www.darkreading.com/perimeter/attackers-exploit-cisco-switch-issue-as-vendor-warns-of-yet-another-critical-flaw/d/d-id/1331490	Press/Media Coverage
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/103538	Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1040580	Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://ics-cert.us-cert.gov/advisories/ICSA-18-107-04	Third Party Advisory US Government Resource
https://ics-cert.us-cert.gov/advisories/ICSA-18-107-05	Third Party Advisory US Government Resource
https://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20180328-smi2	Vendor Advisory
https://www.darkreading.com/perimeter/attackers-exploit-cisco-switch-issue-as-vendor-warns-of-yet-another-critical-flaw/d/d-id/1331490	Press/Media Coverage

CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration

While CVE identifies specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2018-0171 is associated with the following CWEs:

CWE-20: Improper Input Validation

CWE-787: Out-of-bounds Write

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC) stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2018-0171 weaknesses.

CAPEC-3: Using Leading 'Ghost' Character Sequences to Bypass Input Filters Using Leading 'Ghost' Character Sequences to Bypass Input Filters CAPEC-7: Blind SQL Injection Blind SQL Injection CAPEC-8: Buffer Overflow in an API Call Buffer Overflow in an API Call CAPEC-9: Buffer Overflow in Local Command-Line Utilities Buffer Overflow in Local Command-Line Utilities CAPEC-10: Buffer Overflow via Environment Variables Buffer Overflow via Environment Variables CAPEC-13: Subverting Environment Variable Values Subverting Environment Variable Values CAPEC-14: Client-side Injection-induced Buffer Overflow Client-side Injection-induced Buffer Overflow CAPEC-22: Exploiting Trust in Client Exploiting Trust in Client CAPEC-23: File Content Injection File Content Injection CAPEC-24: Filter Failure through Buffer Overflow Filter Failure through Buffer Overflow CAPEC-28: Fuzzing Fuzzing CAPEC-31: Accessing/Intercepting/Modifying HTTP Cookies Accessing/Intercepting/Modifying HTTP Cookies CAPEC-42: MIME Conversion MIME Conversion CAPEC-43: Exploiting Multiple Input Interpretation Layers Exploiting Multiple Input Interpretation Layers CAPEC-45: Buffer Overflow via Symbolic Links Buffer Overflow via Symbolic Links CAPEC-46: Overflow Variables and Tags Overflow Variables and Tags CAPEC-47: Buffer Overflow via Parameter Expansion Buffer Overflow via Parameter Expansion CAPEC-52: Embedding NULL Bytes Embedding NULL Bytes CAPEC-53: Postfix, Null Terminate, and Backslash Postfix, Null Terminate, and Backslash CAPEC-63: Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) CAPEC-64: Using Slashes and URL Encoding Combined to Bypass Validation Logic Using Slashes and URL Encoding Combined to Bypass Validation Logic CAPEC-67: String Format Overflow in syslog() String Format Overflow in syslog() CAPEC-71: Using Unicode Encoding to Bypass Validation Logic Using Unicode Encoding to Bypass Validation Logic CAPEC-72: URL Encoding URL Encoding CAPEC-73: User-Controlled Filename User-Controlled Filename CAPEC-78: Using Escaped Slashes in Alternate Encoding Using Escaped Slashes in Alternate Encoding CAPEC-79: Using Slashes in Alternate Encoding Using Slashes in Alternate Encoding CAPEC-80: Using UTF-8 Encoding to Bypass Validation Logic Using UTF-8 Encoding to Bypass Validation Logic CAPEC-81: Web Server Logs Tampering Web Server Logs Tampering CAPEC-83: XPath Injection XPath Injection CAPEC-85: AJAX Footprinting AJAX Footprinting CAPEC-88: OS Command Injection OS Command Injection CAPEC-101: Server Side Include (SSI) Injection Server Side Include (SSI) Injection CAPEC-104: Cross Zone Scripting Cross Zone Scripting CAPEC-108: Command Line Execution through SQL Injection Command Line Execution through SQL Injection CAPEC-109: Object Relational Mapping Injection Object Relational Mapping Injection CAPEC-110: SQL Injection through SOAP Parameter Tampering SQL Injection through SOAP Parameter Tampering CAPEC-120: Double Encoding Double Encoding CAPEC-135: Format String Injection Format String Injection CAPEC-136: LDAP Injection LDAP Injection CAPEC-153: Input Data Manipulation Input Data Manipulation CAPEC-182: Flash Injection Flash Injection CAPEC-209: XSS Using MIME Type Mismatch XSS Using MIME Type Mismatch CAPEC-230: Serialized Data with Nested Payloads Serialized Data with Nested Payloads CAPEC-231: Oversized Serialized Data Payloads Oversized Serialized Data Payloads CAPEC-250: XML Injection XML Injection CAPEC-261: Fuzzing for garnering other adjacent user/sensitive data Fuzzing for garnering other adjacent user/sensitive data CAPEC-267: Leverage Alternate Encoding Leverage Alternate Encoding CAPEC-473: Signature Spoof Signature Spoof CAPEC-588: DOM-Based XSS DOM-Based XSS CAPEC-664: Server Side Request Forgery Server Side Request Forgery

We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).

qbit6634/Indian-Telecom-Threat-Report

None

Updated: 3 months, 1 week ago

3 stars 0 fork 0 watcher

Born at : May 16, 2025, 9:13 a.m. This repo has been linked 5 different CVEs too.

AlrikRr/Cisco-Smart-Exploit

Cisco SmartInstall Exploit [CVE-2018-0171]

cisco exploit cve-2018-0171 smartinstall

Python

Updated: 2 months ago

10 stars 4 fork 4 watcher

Born at : Feb. 1, 2023, 3:51 a.m. This repo has been linked 1 different CVEs too.

lnick2023/nicenice

None

Updated: 2 years, 8 months ago

0 stars 0 fork 0 watcher

Born at : Jan. 11, 2023, 1:21 p.m. This repo has been linked 1044 different CVEs too.

Ostorlab/KEV

Ostorlab KEV: One-command to detect most remotely known exploitable vulnerabilities. Sourced from CISA KEV, Google's Tsunami, Ostorlab's Asteroid and Bug Bounty programs.

cisa-kev vulnerability 0day cisa exploits

Updated: 1 month, 1 week ago

581 stars 42 fork 42 watcher

Born at : April 19, 2022, 8:58 a.m. This repo has been linked 1287 different CVEs too.

tunnelcat/metasploit-cve-search

Automates searching CVEs in the Metasploit database of exploits.

Python

Updated: 1 year, 1 month ago

5 stars 0 fork 0 watcher

Born at : Jan. 26, 2021, 6:44 p.m. This repo has been linked 8 different CVEs too.

xbl3/awesome-cve-poc_qazbnm456

None

Updated: 5 months, 4 weeks ago

14 stars 4 fork 4 watcher

Born at : May 25, 2020, 7:51 a.m. This repo has been linked 1029 different CVEs too.

tomoyamachi/gocarts

checking alerts of X-CERT

Updated: 4 years, 3 months ago

4 stars 0 fork 0 watcher

Born at : Nov. 15, 2018, 6:27 a.m. This repo has been linked 53 different CVEs too.

shalekesan/CiscoSmartInstallExploit

None

Python

Updated: 7 years, 1 month ago

0 stars 13 fork 13 watcher

Born at : July 25, 2018, 9:03 a.m. This repo has been linked 1 different CVEs too.

astroicers/pentest_guide

For novices

Updated: 1 year, 7 months ago

0 stars 1 fork 1 watcher

Born at : July 19, 2018, 3:22 p.m. This repo has been linked 3 different CVEs too.

ChristianPapathanasiou/CiscoSmartInstallExploit

None

Python

Updated: 1 year, 2 months ago

22 stars 14 fork 14 watcher

Born at : June 10, 2018, 3:58 p.m. This repo has been linked 1 different CVEs too.

rikosintie/SmartInstall

A wrapper for Cisco's smi_check.py file.

Python

Updated: 3 years, 3 months ago

1 stars 2 fork 2 watcher

Born at : April 15, 2018, 2:43 a.m. This repo has been linked 1 different CVEs too.

IPvSean/mitigate-cve

None

Updated: 7 years, 5 months ago

0 stars 0 fork 0 watcher

Born at : March 29, 2018, 4:14 p.m. This repo has been linked 1 different CVEs too.

qazbnm456/awesome-cve-poc

✍️ A curated list of CVE PoCs.

awesome cve poc

Updated: 1 month, 3 weeks ago

3424 stars 685 fork 685 watcher

Born at : Feb. 2, 2017, 6:43 a.m. This repo has been linked 1044 different CVEs too.

Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.

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