# CVE-2018-5261: Weak cryptography in n/a

> Man-in-the-middle attackers can intercept authentication credentials due to weak cryptographic key derivation in Flexense DiskBoss.

- **Severity:** High 8.1 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:** 2 Feb 2018
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-j69q-3vrr-gwj6

## What is CVE-2018-5261?

CVE-2018-5261 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 2 Feb 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An issue was discovered in Flexense DiskBoss 8.8.16 and earlier. Due to the usage of plaintext information from the handshake as input for the encryption key used for the encryption of the rest of the session, the server and client disclose sensitive information, such as the authentication credentials, to any man-in-the-middle (MiTM) listener.

Weakness: CWE-311 (Missing Encryption of Sensitive Data)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-5261?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Flexense Diskboss.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-5261?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-5261 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-5261 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-5261 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2018-5262](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-5262/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2020-36882](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-36882/): Flexsense DiskBoss Application Crash Denial of Service (high 8.7)
- [CVE-2020-36880](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-36880/): Flexsense DiskBoss 'Reports and Data Directory' Buffer Overflow (high 8.6)
- [CVE-2020-36881](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-36881/): Flexsense DiskBoss 'Add Input Directory' Buffer Overflow (high 8.6)
- [CVE-2017-7310](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-7310/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 7.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-5261 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-5261 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 2 Feb 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-2018-5261 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. 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-2018-5261/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-5261/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-5261
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-5261
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-5261

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-5261/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.