CVE-2018-15369: Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software TACACS+ Client Denial of Service Vulnerability

Severity: medium (CVSS 6.8 v3.0)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 2.1% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2018-10-05 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-20

Description

A vulnerability in the TACACS+ client subsystem of Cisco IOS Software and Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause an affected device to reload, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability is due to improper handling of crafted TACACS+ response packets by the affected software. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by injecting a crafted TACACS+ packet into an existing TACACS+ session between an affected device and a TACACS+ server or by impersonating a known, valid TACACS+ server and sending a crafted TACACS+ packet to an affected device when establishing a connection to the device. To exploit this vulnerability by using either method, the attacker must know the shared TACACS+ secret and the crafted packet must be sent in response to a TACACS+ request from a TACACS+ client. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the affected device to reload, resulting in a DoS condition.

Affected products

Cisco IOS: 15.6(1.9)t
Cisco IOS XE: all versions

References

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