CVE-2018-0228
A vulnerability in the ingress flow creation functionality of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause the CPU to increase upwards of 100% utilization, causing a denial of service (DoS) condition…
Does this matter?
High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (3.53%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.
Description
A vulnerability in the ingress flow creation functionality of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause the CPU to increase upwards of 100% utilization, causing a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected system. The vulnerability is due to incorrect handling of an internal software lock that could prevent other system processes from getting CPU cycles, causing a high CPU condition. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a steady stream of malicious IP packets that can cause connections to be created on the targeted device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to exhaust CPU resources, resulting in a DoS condition during which traffic through the device could be delayed. This vulnerability applies to either IPv4 or IPv6 ingress traffic. This vulnerability affects Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) and Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software that is running on the following Cisco products: 3000 Series Industrial Security Appliances (ISA), ASA 5500 Series Adaptive Security Appliances, ASA 5500-X Series Next-Generation Firewalls, ASA Services Module for Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switches and Cisco 7600 Series Routers, Adaptive Security Virtual Appliances (ASAv), Firepower 2100 Series Security Appliances, Firepower 4110 Security Appliances, Firepower 9300 ASA Security Modules. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvf63718.
- CVSS 3.1
- 8.6 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
- EPSS
- 3.53% probability · 89th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-20, CWE-667
- Affected
- cisco/adaptive security appliance software · cisco/secure firewall threat defense
- Source
- psirt@cisco.com
EPSS 3.5% since 27 October 2026; no change recorded yet. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
References
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/104220Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1040724Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://ics-cert.us-cert.gov/advisories/ICSA-18-184-01Third Party Advisory, US Government Resource
- https://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20180418-asa2Mitigation, Vendor Advisory
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/104220Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1040724Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://ics-cert.us-cert.gov/advisories/ICSA-18-184-01Third Party Advisory, US Government Resource
- https://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20180418-asa2Mitigation, Vendor Advisory
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.