# CVE-2018-0417: Cisco Wireless LAN Controller Software GUI Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

> An authenticated local attacker can escalate privileges to create admin accounts via TACACS GUI parsing flaws in Cisco WLC.

- **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:** 17 Oct 2018
- **Updated:** 26 Nov 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-ghg7-vhxc-mhv7

## What is CVE-2018-0417?

CVE-2018-0417 is a high-severity vulnerability in Cisco Wireless Lan Controller Software, published on 17 Oct 2018. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in TACACS authentication with Cisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to perform certain operations within the GUI that are not normally available to that user on the CLI. The vulnerability is due to incorrect parsing of a specific TACACS attribute received in the TACACS response from the remote TACACS server. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating via TACACS to the GUI on the affected device. A successful exploit could allow an attacker to create local user accounts with administrative privileges on an affected WLC and execute other commands that are not allowed from the CLI and should be prohibited.

Weakness: CWE-264

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-0417?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Cisco Wireless Lan Controller, Cisco Wireless Lan Controller Software.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-0417?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-0417 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-0417 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-0417 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Wireless Lan Controller Software

- [CVE-2014-0703](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-0703/): Race condition in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2014-0706](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-0706/): Cisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) devices 7.2 before 7.2.115.2, 7.3, and 7.4 before 7.4.110.0 allow remote attackers to cause a denial of (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2014-0707](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-0707/): Cisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) devices 7.2, 7.3, and 7.4 before 7.4.110.0 allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service (device r (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2019-1796](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-1796/): Cisco Wireless LAN Controller Software IAPP Message Handling Denial of Service Vulnerabilities (high 7.4)
- [CVE-2019-1799](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-1799/): Cisco Wireless LAN Controller Software IAPP Message Handling Denial of Service Vulnerabilities (high 7.4)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-0417 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-0417 is a high-severity vulnerability in Cisco Wireless Lan Controller Software, published on 17 Oct 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-2018-0417 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Wireless Lan Controller Software. 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-2018-0417/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-0417/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-0417
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-0417
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-0417

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-0417/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.