CVE-2018-25117
VestaCP Debian Installer Malicious Backdoor Supply Chain Compromise
Description
VestaCP commit a3f0fa1 (2018-05-31) up to commit ee03eff (2018-06-13) contain embedded malicious code that resulted in a supply-chain compromise. New installations created from the compromised installer since at least May 2018 were subject to installation of Linux/ChachaDDoS, a multi-stage DDoS bot that uses Lua for second- and third-stage components. The compromise leaked administrative credentials (base64-encoded admin password and server domain) to an external URL during installation and/or resulted in the installer dropping and executing a DDoS malware payload under local system privileges. Compromised servers were subsequently observed participating in large-scale DDoS activity. Vesta acknowledged exploitation in the wild in October 2018.
INFO
Published Date :
Oct. 15, 2025, 2:15 a.m.
Last Modified :
Oct. 16, 2025, 3:29 p.m.
Remotely Exploit :
Yes !
Source :
[email protected]
Affected Products
The following products are affected by CVE-2018-25117
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.
No affected product recoded yet
CVSS Scores
| Score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability Score | Impact Score | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVSS 4.0 | CRITICAL | 83251b91-4cc7-4094-a5c7-464a1b83ea10 | ||||
| CVSS 4.0 | CRITICAL | [email protected] |
Solution
- Identify and remove malicious VestaCP installations.
- Restore servers from a trusted backup.
- Verify all system integrity.
- Harden server security configurations.
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-2018-25117.
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration
While CVE identifies
specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or
weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2018-25117 is
associated with the following CWEs:
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-2018-25117
weaknesses.
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).
Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.
The following list is the news that have been mention
CVE-2018-25117 vulnerability anywhere in the article.
The following table lists the changes that have been made to the
CVE-2018-25117 vulnerability over time.
Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.
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New CVE Received by [email protected]
Oct. 15, 2025
Action Type Old Value New Value Added Description VestaCP commit a3f0fa1 (2018-05-31) up to commit ee03eff (2018-06-13) contain embedded malicious code that resulted in a supply-chain compromise. New installations created from the compromised installer since at least May 2018 were subject to installation of Linux/ChachaDDoS, a multi-stage DDoS bot that uses Lua for second- and third-stage components. The compromise leaked administrative credentials (base64-encoded admin password and server domain) to an external URL during installation and/or resulted in the installer dropping and executing a DDoS malware payload under local system privileges. Compromised servers were subsequently observed participating in large-scale DDoS activity. Vesta acknowledged exploitation in the wild in October 2018. Added CVSS V4.0 AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:H/SI:H/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X Added CWE CWE-506 Added Reference https://forum.vestacp.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=17641&p=73282 Added Reference https://forum.vestacp.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=17641&start=180#p73907 Added Reference https://github.com/outroll/vesta Added Reference https://github.com/outroll/vesta/commit/a3f0fa1501d424477786e3e7150bb05c0b99518f#diff-df8da0c91e9086454c60cd468849630dR1256 Added Reference https://github.com/outroll/vesta/commit/ee03eff016e03cb76fac7ae3a0f9d1ef0f8ee35b#diff-df8da0c91e9086454c60cd468849630dL1270 Added Reference https://vestacp.com/ Added Reference https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/vestacp-debian-installer-malicious-backdoor-supply-chain-compromise Added Reference https://www.welivesecurity.com/2018/10/18/new-linux-chachaddos-malware-distributed-servers-vestacp-installed/