# CVE-2018-18981: Denial of service in Rockwell Automation FactoryTalk Services Platform v2.90 and earlier

> Remote unauthenticated attackers can cause denial of service in Rockwell FactoryTalk Services Platform by sending crafted packets that exhaust memory.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/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:** 24 Jan 2019
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-v3wg-5frm-q7hg

## What is CVE-2018-18981?

CVE-2018-18981 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Rockwell Automation FactoryTalk Services Platform v2.90 and earlier, published on 24 Jan 2019. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In Rockwell Automation FactoryTalk Services Platform 2.90 and earlier, a remote unauthenticated attacker could send numerous crafted packets to service ports resulting in memory consumption that could lead to a partial or complete denial-of-service condition to the affected services.

Weakness: CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write), CWE-122 (Heap-based Buffer Overflow)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-18981?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Rockwellautomation Factorytalk Services Platform.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-18981?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-18981 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-18981 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-18981 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Rockwell Automation FactoryTalk Services Platform v2.90 and earlier

- [CVE-2021-22681](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-22681/): Rockwell Multiple Products Insufficient Protected Credentials (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2020-14516](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-14516/): Weak cryptography in Rockwell Automation FactoryTalk Services Platform (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2024-21917](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-21917/): Rockwell Automation FactoryTalk® Service Platform Service Token Vulnerability (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2020-6967](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-6967/): Deserialization in Rockwell Automation All versions of FactoryTalk Diagnostics software, a subsystem of the FactoryTalk Services Platform (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2024-21915](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-21915/): Rockwell Automation FactoryTalk® Service Platform Elevated Privileges Vulnerability Through Web Service Functionality (critical 9.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-18981 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-18981 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Rockwell Automation FactoryTalk Services Platform v2.90 and earlier, published on 24 Jan 2019. 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-2018-18981 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Rockwell Automation FactoryTalk Services Platform v2.90 and earlier. 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-2018-18981/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-18981/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-18981
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-18981
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-18981

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-18981/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.