# CVE-2018-7081: Command injection in Aruba Mobility Controllers

> Remote attackers can execute arbitrary code with full system privileges on Aruba Mobility Controllers via crafted PAPI traffic.

- **Severity:** Critical 9.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/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:** 13 Sep 2019
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-v23q-qg5x-p624

## What is CVE-2018-7081?

CVE-2018-7081 is a critical command injection vulnerability in Arubanetworks Arubaos, published on 13 Sep 2019. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A remote code execution vulnerability is present in network-listening components in some versions of ArubaOS. An attacker with the ability to transmit specially-crafted IP traffic to a mobility controller could exploit this vulnerability and cause a process crash or to execute arbitrary code within the underlying operating system with full system privileges. Such an attack could lead to complete system compromise. The ability to transmit traffic to an IP interface on the mobility controller is required to carry out an attack. The attack leverages the PAPI protocol (UDP port 8211). If the mobility controller is only bridging L2 traffic to an uplink and does not have an IP address that is accessible to the attacker, it cannot be attacked.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-7081?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Arubanetworks Arubaos.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-7081?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-7081 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-7081 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-7081 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Arubanetworks Arubaos

- [CVE-2024-42393](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-42393/): Memory corruption in Hpe Aruba Networking InstantOS and Aruba Access Points running ArubaOS 10 (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2024-42394](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-42394/): Memory corruption in HPE Aruba Networking InstantOS and Aruba Access Points running ArubaOS 10 (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2024-42395](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-42395/): Memory corruption in HPE Aruba Networking InstantOS and Aruba Access Points running ArubaOS 10 (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2024-31466](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-31466/): Unauthenticated Buffer Overflow Vulnerabilities in CLI Service Accessed by the PAPI Protocol (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2024-31467](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-31467/): Unauthenticated Buffer Overflow Vulnerabilities in CLI Service Accessed by the PAPI Protocol (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-7081 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-7081 is a critical command injection vulnerability in Arubanetworks Arubaos, published on 13 Sep 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-2018-7081 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Arubanetworks Arubaos. 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-2018-7081/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-7081/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-7081
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-7081
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-7081

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-7081/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.