# CVE-2018-5406: The Quest Kace K1000 Appliance misconfigures the Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) mechanism.

> Remote attackers can exploit misconfigured CORS to add admin accounts or change settings on Quest Kace K1000 appliances.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 3 Jun 2019
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-w47r-hmfw-c2px

## What is CVE-2018-5406?

CVE-2018-5406 is a high-severity vulnerability in Quest Kace K1000 Appliance, published on 3 Jun 2019. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

The Quest Kace K1000 Appliance, versions prior to 9.0.270, allows a remote attacker to exploit the misconfigured Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) mechanism. An unauthenticated, remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to perform sensitive actions such as adding a new administrator account or changing the appliance’s settings. A malicious internal user could also gain administrator privileges of this appliance and use it to visit a malicious link that exploits this vulnerability. This could cause the application to perform sensitive actions such as adding a new administrator account or changing the appliance’s settings. An unauthenticated, remote attacker could add an administrator-level account or change the appliance's settings.

Weakness: CWE-284 (Improper Access Control)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-5406?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Quest Kace Systems Management Appliance Firmware.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-5406?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-5406 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-5406 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2018-5406 exists.

Public exploit code:

- KACE System Management Appliance (SMA) < 9.0.270 - Multiple Vulnerabilities (exploitdb)

## Other vulnerabilities in Quest Kace K1000 Appliance

- [CVE-2018-5404](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-5404/): The Quest Kace K1000 Appliance is vulnerable to multiple Blind SQL Injections. (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2018-5405](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-5405/): The Quest Kace K1000 Appliance is vulnerable to JavaScript injection. (medium 5.4)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-5406 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-5406 is a high-severity vulnerability in Quest Kace K1000 Appliance, published on 3 Jun 2019. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2018-5406 exists.

Affected product: Quest Kace K1000 Appliance. 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-2018-5406/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-5406/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-5406
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-5406
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-5406

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-5406/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.