# CVE-2018-0226: Privilege escalation in Cisco Aironet 1800, 2800, and 3800 Series Access Points

> An authenticated attacker can gain administrative privileges on Cisco Aironet Access Points by exploiting default SSH account configuration flaws.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 2 May 2018
- **Updated:** 29 Nov 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-24w9-2wp7-vw4g

## What is CVE-2018-0226?

CVE-2018-0226 is a high-severity vulnerability in Cisco Aironet 1800, 2800, and 3800 Series Access Points, published on 2 May 2018. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the assignment and management of default user accounts for Secure Shell (SSH) access to Cisco Aironet 1800, 2800, and 3800 Series Access Points that are running Cisco Mobility Express Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to gain elevated privileges on an affected access point. The vulnerability exists because the Cisco Mobility Express controller of the affected software configures the default SSH user account for an access point to be the first SSH user account that was created for the Mobility Express controller, if an administrator added user accounts directly to the controller instead of using the default configuration or the SSH username creation wizard. Although the user account has read-only privileges for the Mobility Express controller, the account could have administrative privileges for an associated access point. An attacker who has valid user credentials for an affected controller could exploit this vulnerability by using the default SSH user account to authenticate to an affected access point via SSH. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to log in to the affected access point with administrative privileges and perform arbitrary administrative actions. This vulnerability affects the following Cisco products: Aironet 1800 Series Access Points that are running Cisco Mobility Express Software Releases 8.2.121.0 through 8.5.105.0, Aironet 2800 Series Access Points that are running Cisco Mobility Express Software Releases 8.3.102.0 through 8.5.105.0, Aironet 3800 Series Access Points that are running Cisco Mobility Express Software Releases 8.3.102.0 through 8.5.105.0. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCva68116.

Weakness: CWE-255

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-0226?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cisco Mobility Express Software.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-0226?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-0226 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-0226 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-0226 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Aironet 1800, 2800, and 3800 Series Access Points

- [CVE-2023-20251](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20251/): Denial of service in Cisco Mobility Express (medium 6.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-0226 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-0226 is a high-severity vulnerability in Cisco Aironet 1800, 2800, and 3800 Series Access Points, published on 2 May 2018. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-0226 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Aironet 1800, 2800, and 3800 Series Access Points. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-0226/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-0226/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-0226
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-0226
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-0226

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-0226/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.