Security Resilience

CVE-2018-0158

Cisco Ios 15.5\(3\)s1.1 … 15.5\(3\)s1.9

CISA KEVActive ExploitationEUVD Exploited
Published
28 March 2018
Modified
14 January 2026
KEV Added
03 March 2022
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 8.6
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.072 94th percentile
Risk Priority 88 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2018-0158 is a high-severity Improper Input Validation (CWE-20) vulnerability in Cisco Ios. Its CVSS base score is 8.6 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Junk Data (T1001.001); ranked in the top 6% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

The vulnerability CVE-2018-0158 resides in the Internet Key Exchange Version 2 (IKEv2) module of Cisco IOS Software and Cisco IOS XE Software. It is caused by incorrect processing of certain IKEv2 packets and is tracked under Cisco Bug ID CSCvf22394 along with CWEs 20 and 401. Successful triggering of the flaw produces a memory leak that can culminate in a device reload.

An unauthenticated remote attacker can exploit the issue simply by sending crafted IKEv2 packets to an affected device. The resulting continuous memory consumption leads to a denial-of-service condition, consistent with the CVSS 8.6 vector that emphasizes network attack feasibility and high availability impact without any authentication or user interaction.

Cisco Security Advisory cisco-sa-20180328-ike together with the referenced ICS-CERT and security-tracker publications address mitigation steps and software updates for the affected platforms.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A05:2025 Injection

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A vulnerability in the Internet Key Exchange Version 2 (IKEv2) module of Cisco IOS Software and Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a memory leak or a reload of an affected device that leads…

more

to a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability is due to incorrect processing of certain IKEv2 packets. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted IKEv2 packets to an affected device to be processed. A successful exploit could cause an affected device to continuously consume memory and eventually reload, resulting in a DoS condition. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvf22394.

CWE(s)
CWE-20CWE-401
KEV Date Added
03 March 2022

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001.001 Junk Data Command And Control
Adversaries may add junk data to protocols used for command and control to make detection more difficult.
attack.mitre.org →
T1001.002 Steganography Command And Control
Adversaries may use steganographic techniques to hide command and control traffic to make detection efforts more difficult.
attack.mitre.org →
T1001.003 Protocol or Service Impersonation Command And Control
Adversaries may impersonate legitimate protocols or web service traffic to disguise command and control activity and thwart analysis efforts.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003 OS Credential Dumping Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to dump credentials to obtain account login and credential material, normally in the form of a hash or a clear text password.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.001 LSASS Memory Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access credential material stored in the process memory of the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS).
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.004 LSA Secrets Credential Access
Adversaries with SYSTEM access to a host may attempt to access Local Security Authority (LSA) secrets, which can contain a variety of different credential materials, such as credentials for service accounts.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2018-0173Same product: Cisco Asr 1001-Hxboth on KEV
CVE-2018-0174Same product: Cisco Iosboth on KEV
CVE-2018-0172Same product: Cisco Iosboth on KEV
CVE-2023-26083Shared CWE-401both on KEV
CVE-2018-0159Same product: Cisco Iosboth on KEV
CVE-2017-12319Same product: Cisco Asr 1001-Hxboth on KEV
CVE-2017-12235Same product: Cisco Iosboth on KEV
CVE-2017-12234Same product: Cisco Iosboth on KEV
CVE-2017-12233Same product: Cisco Iosboth on KEV
CVE-2017-3881Same product: Cisco Iosboth on KEV

Affected Assets

cisco
ios
15.5\(3\)s1.1, 15.5\(3\)s1.10, 15.5\(3\)s1.11, 15.5\(3\)s1.12, 15.5\(3\)s1.2
cisco
ios xe
15.5\(3\)s1.1, 15.5\(3\)s1.10, 15.5\(3\)s1.11, 15.5\(3\)s1.12, 15.5\(3\)s1.2

Mitigating Controls

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

PM-14 Testing, Training, and Monitoring
addresses: CWE-20

Security testing and developer training directly verify and enforce proper input validation, reducing exploitability of injection and malformed-data weaknesses.

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation
addresses: CWE-20

Security testing and evaluation at multiple SDLC stages directly detects missing or flawed input validation, with the required remediation process ensuring fixes are applied.

SI-10 Information Input Validation
addresses: CWE-20

Directly implements checks on information inputs to reject invalid data before processing.

SI-8 Spam Protection
addresses: CWE-20

Spam protection mechanisms perform filtering and detection on inbound/outbound messages, directly compensating for missing or weak input validation of unsolicited content.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 partial match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices directly enforce proper memory allocation/deallocation via coding standards, reviews, and tooling.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.5.14 Information transfer partial match
removes
A.5.15 Access control partial match
removes
A.5.16 Identity management partial match
removes
A.5.17 Authentication information partial match
removes
A.5.18 Access rights partial match
removes
A.8.10 Information deletion partial match
removes

Hardening callouts derived

DISA STIG baselines are authored against specific weaknesses. Where this CVE cites a broad weakness class, the mapping is not asserted at that abstraction (owner ruling, 2026-09-25: grade only at Base and below), so no rule is shown here rather than a rule shown against the wrong grain.

  • No fine-grained STIG row for CWE-20, a class-level weakness, and none of its children carries one either.

References