CVE-2018-0158 Cisco IOS and XE Software Internet Key Exchange Memory Leak

Exploited in the wild High 8.6 Published 28 Mar 2018 Updated 12 Jan 2026

Remote attackers can cause a denial of service on Cisco IOS devices by sending crafted IKEv2 packets that trigger memory leaks and device reloads.

Exploited in the wild: Since 3 Mar 2022
Login needed: Not needed
Attackable: Over the internet
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: None listed

What is CVE-2018-0158?

CVE-2018-0158 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco Ios, published on 28 Mar 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

A vulnerability in the Internet Key Exchange Version 2 (IKEv2) module of Cisco IOS Software and Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a memory leak or a reload of an affected device that leads to a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability is due to incorrect processing of certain IKEv2 packets. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted IKEv2 packets to an affected device to be processed. A successful exploit could cause an affected device to continuously consume memory and eventually reload, resulting in a DoS condition. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvf22394.

Weakness: CWE-401, CWE-20

Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-0158?

It affects 2 products.

Products include Cisco Ios, Cisco Ios Xe.

How do I fix CVE-2018-0158?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-0158 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available. US federal agencies must fix it by 17 Mar 2022.

Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.

Is CVE-2018-0158 being exploited?

Yes. Attackers have exploited CVE-2018-0158 in the wild since at least 3 Mar 2022.

All Cisco Ios vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as GHSA-fm8f-3j2c-52xr.