# CVE-2018-0443: Denial of service in Cisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC)

> Remote attackers can cause denial of service by sending malicious CAPWAP packets, disconnecting access points and disrupting wireless service.

- **Severity:** High 8.6 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 17 Oct 2018
- **Updated:** 26 Nov 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-w55v-5qm4-5hrw

## What is CVE-2018-0443?

CVE-2018-0443 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco Wireless Lan Controller Software, published on 17 Oct 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the Control and Provisioning of Wireless Access Points (CAPWAP) protocol component of Cisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability is due to improper input validation on fields within CAPWAP Discovery Request packets by the affected device. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending malicious CAPWAP Discovery Request packets to the Cisco WLC Software. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the Cisco WLC Software to disconnect associated access points (APs). While the APs disconnect and reconnect, service will be unavailable for a brief period of time, resulting in a DoS condition.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation), CWE-399

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-0443?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cisco Wireless Lan Controller Software.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-0443?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-0443 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-0443 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-0443 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Wireless Lan Controller Software

- [CVE-2007-2036](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2007-2036/): Hardcoded credentials in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2016-1363](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-1363/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2015-6314](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-6314/): Auth bypass in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2010-2842](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-2842/): Privilege escalation in n/a (critical 9.0)
- [CVE-2010-2843](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-2843/): Privilege escalation in n/a (critical 9.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-0443 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-0443 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco Wireless Lan Controller Software, published on 17 Oct 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-0443 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-2018-0443/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-0443/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-0443
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-0443
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-0443

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-0443/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.