A vulnerability in Java deserialization used by Cisco Secure Access Control System (ACS) prior to release 5.8 patch 9 could allow an unauth…

Published 8 y ago 2018-03-08 · modified 4 mo ago 2026-06-17 · JSON

CVSS

9.8

v3.1 · CNA

CISA KEV

Yes

added 2022-03-25

EPSS

18.2%

percentile 97%

Public exploits

none known

A vulnerability in Java deserialization used by Cisco Secure Access Control System (ACS) prior to release 5.8 patch 9 could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to insecure deserialization of user-supplied content by the affected software. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted serialized Java object. An exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the device with root privileges. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvh25988.

Known exploited (CISA KEV)

Added: 4 y ago 2022-03-25
Due date: 2022-04-15 (4 y ago)
Ransomware use: Unknown
Required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.
Vendor / product: Cisco / Secure Access Control System (ACS)
CISA name: Cisco Secure Access Control System Java Deserialization Vulnerability

CISA SSVC assessment

Exploitation: Active — exploited in the wild
Automatable: yes
Technical impact: total
Assessed: 23 mo ago 2024-11-08

Exploit prediction (EPSS)

18.21% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 97% of all scored CVEs.

CVSS scores

Assigned by	Version	Score	Vector
CISA ADP	3.1	9.8	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`
NVD	3.1	9.8	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`
CNA	3.1	9.8	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`
NVD	2.0	10.0	`AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C`

Affected products

n/a Cisco Secure Access Control System

Classification

Weakness

CWE-20 Improper Input Validation
CWE-502 Deserialization of Untrusted Data

References

securitytracker.com /id/1040463 · vdb-entry, x_refsource_SECTRACK, x_transferred
securityfocus.com /bid/103328 · vdb-entry, x_refsource_BID, x_transferred
tools.cisco.com /security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20180307-acs2 · x_refsource_CONFIRM, x_transferred
cisa.gov /known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2018-0147 · government-resource

Sources

CVE List: CVE-2018-0147
NVD: CVE-2018-0147

vulnwire keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA; records that alias each other are merged. Machine-readable: JSON.

Summary