CVE-2018-0296 Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Denial-of-Service
Unauthenticated attackers can cause denial of service or view sensitive system information via crafted HTTP requests to Cisco ASA devices.
- Exploited in the wild
- Since 3 Nov 2021
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2018-0296?
CVE-2018-0296 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software, published on 7 Jun 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
A vulnerability in the web interface of the Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause an affected device to reload unexpectedly, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. It is also possible on certain software releases that the ASA will not reload, but an attacker could view sensitive system information without authentication by using directory traversal techniques. The vulnerability is due to lack of proper input validation of the HTTP URL. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted HTTP request to an affected device. An exploit could allow the attacker to cause a DoS condition or unauthenticated disclosure of information. This vulnerability applies to IPv4 and IPv6 HTTP traffic. This vulnerability affects Cisco ASA Software and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software that is running on the following Cisco products: 3000 Series Industrial Security Appliance (ISA), ASA 1000V Cloud Firewall, ASA 5500 Series Adaptive Security Appliances, ASA 5500-X Series Next-Generation Firewalls, ASA Services Module for Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switches and Cisco 7600 Series Routers, Adaptive Security Virtual Appliance (ASAv), Firepower 2100 Series Security Appliance, Firepower 4100 Series Security Appliance, Firepower 9300 ASA Security Module, FTD Virtual (FTDv). Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvi16029.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-0296?
It affects 3 products.
Products include Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software, Cisco Firepower Threat Defense, Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense.
How do I fix CVE-2018-0296?
No fix has been published for CVE-2018-0296 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available. US federal agencies must fix it by 3 May 2022.
Upgrade, and resolve every user-supplied path against an allowed base folder before opening it. More about Path traversal.
Is CVE-2018-0296 being exploited?
Yes. Attackers have exploited CVE-2018-0296 in the wild since at least 3 Nov 2021.
Public exploit code: 1 Metasploit module, 2 Exploit-DB entries, 1 Nuclei template and 4 proofs of concept on GitHub.
Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software
- CVE-2025-20333 Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) and Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) Buffer Overflow
- CVE-2016-6366 Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SNMP Buffer Overflow
- CVE-2026-20349 Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) and Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) Heap Inspection
- CVE-2024-20353 Cisco ASA and FTD Denial of Service
- CVE-2016-6367 Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) CLI Remote Code Execution
All Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software vulnerabilities
Sources
Also known as GHSA-h2mj-pqgp-xmmj.