# CVE-2018-15465: Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

> Unprivileged remote attackers can bypass authorization checks in the web interface to read configurations or replace software images on Cisco ASA devices.

- **Severity:** High 8.1 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N`)
- **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:** 24 Dec 2018
- **Updated:** 26 Nov 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-wccp-c983-j22q

## What is CVE-2018-15465?

CVE-2018-15465 is a high-severity missing authorization vulnerability in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software, published on 24 Dec 2018. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the authorization subsystem of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software could allow an authenticated, but unprivileged (levels 0 and 1), remote attacker to perform privileged actions by using the web management interface. The vulnerability is due to improper validation of user privileges when using the web management interface. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending specific HTTP requests via HTTPS to an affected device as an unprivileged user. An exploit could allow the attacker to retrieve files (including the running configuration) from the device or to upload and replace software images on the device.

Weakness: CWE-863 (Incorrect Authorization), CWE-285 (Improper Authorization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-15465?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-15465?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-15465 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-15465 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-15465 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software

- [CVE-2025-20333](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-20333/): Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) and Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) Buffer Overflow (critical 9.9, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2016-6366](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-6366/): Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SNMP Buffer Overflow (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-20349](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-20349/): Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) and Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) Heap Inspection (high 8.6, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-20353](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-20353/): Cisco ASA and FTD Denial of Service (high 8.6, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2016-6367](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-6367/): Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) CLI Remote Code Execution (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-15465 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-15465 is a high-severity missing authorization vulnerability in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software, published on 24 Dec 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-2018-15465 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance 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-2018-15465/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-15465/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-15465
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-15465
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-15465

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-15465/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.