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CVE-2018-0171

HIGH 7.5 KNOWN EXPLOITED PoC CATALOGUED DETECTION TEMPLATE ALL-YEARS

Published 2018-03-28 · Last modified 2026-01-12 · cisco · NVD: Analyzed

A vulnerability in the Smart Install feature of Cisco IOS Software and Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to trigger a reload of an affected device, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition, or to execute arbitrary code on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to improper validation of packet data. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted Smart Install message to an affected device on TCP port 4786. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause a buffer overflow on the affected device, which could have the following impacts: Triggering a reload of the device, Allowing the attacker to execute arbitrary code on the device, Causing an indefinite loop on the affected device that triggers a watchdog crash. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvg76186.

ACTIVELY EXPLOITED

Confirmed exploited in the wild — in CISA KEV since 2021-11-03. Patch or mitigate now.

Exploitation likelihood

99.5%chance of exploitation in 30 days · 100th percentile

● In CISA KEV (2021-11-03)● Catalogued PoC◆ SSVC: exploitation active, automatable yes

Impact if exploited

7.5CVSS 3.1 · HIGH · ADP

  • ConfidentialityNone
  • IntegrityNone
  • AvailabilityHigh

What an attacker needs

  • ✓Access: Reachable over the network — no local access needed
  • ✓Privileges: No account or privileges required
  • ✓User interaction: No user interaction needed
  • ✓Complexity: No special conditions — reliably repeatable

✓ lowers the bar for an attacker · ⚠ raises it

Proof of concept

Public PoC or exploit resources are catalogued below.

Listed by the named source; Vulnpedia has not tested these resources.

PoC data: JSON

Detection templates

Detection checks are listed separately from PoCs.

Resource commands

nuclei -id CVE-2018-0171 -u https://TARGETDetection template — review its checks and affected versions before use.
searchsploit --cve CVE-2018-0171 && searchsploit -m 44451Fetch the ExploitDB PoC locally; review the code before running it.
curl -s https://vulnpedia.com/cve/CVE-2018-0171/poc.jsonMachine-readable PoC index for this CVE (for automation).

Search for new PoCs

Search GitHub now — results may be empty or unverified.

Tracked sources are checked weekly for the full archive, including PoCs published after the original disclosure. A later release appears after a tracked source lists it and a refresh succeeds.

Data snapshot:

Affected

Vendors Cisco

Products Cisco Ios And Ios Xe Ios

Weakness (CWE)

  • CWE-20: Improper input validation
  • CWE-787: Out-of-bounds write

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

References and research data (JSON)

Unverified PoC candidates

Catalogue matches for further research. These repositories have not been validated as working exploits.

1 candidate

Additional exploitation reports

Source-specific reports, separate from CISA KEV. Repeated observations from one source are not independent confirmations.

16 more source reports

Known Affected Software Configurations

VendorProductVersion range
CiscoIos15.2\(5\)e

All CVSS metrics

  • HIGH 7.5 v3.1 · ADP Primary
    CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
  • CRITICAL 9.8 v3.1 · NVD Primary
    CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
  • HIGH 7.5 v3.1 · NVD Secondary
    CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
  • HIGH 10 v2.0 · NVD Primary
    AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

References

Advisories

Technical & other

Sources: NVD · CVE.org · All sources and attribution · EPSS