CVE-2018-15465: Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

Severity: high (CVSS 8.1 v3.0)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 2.4% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: yes
Published: 2018-12-24 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-285

Description

A vulnerability in the authorization subsystem of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software could allow an authenticated, but unprivileged (levels 0 and 1), remote attacker to perform privileged actions by using the web management interface. The vulnerability is due to improper validation of user privileges when using the web management interface. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending specific HTTP requests via HTTPS to an affected device as an unprivileged user. An exploit could allow the attacker to retrieve files (including the running configuration) from the device or to upload and replace software images on the device.

Affected products

Cisco ASA Software: before 9.4.4.29; from 9.5 before 9.6.4.20; from 9.7 before 9.8.3.18; from 9.9 before 9.9.2.36; from 9.10 before 9.10.1.7 — fixed in 9.10.1.7, 9.4.4.29, 9.6.4.20, 9.8.3.18, 9.9.2.36

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Cisco ASA Software 9.10.1.7, 9.4.4.29, 9.6.4.20, 9.8.3.18. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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