CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2018-0221 — Cisco Identity Services Engine security vulnerability

High CVSS 7.2

A vulnerability in specific CLI commands for the Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) could allow an authenticated, local attacker to perform command injection to the underlying operating system or cause a hang or disconnect of the user session. The attacker needs valid administrator credentials for the device. The vulnerability is due to incomplete input validation of user input for certain CLI ISE configuration commands. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating as an administrative user, issuing a specific CLI command, and entering crafted, malicious user input for the command parameters. An exploit could allow the attacker to perform command injection to the lower-level Linux operating system. It is also possible the attacker could cause the ISE user interface for this management session to hang or disconnect. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvg95479.

Severity
High
CVSS
7.2 (2.0)
Published
2018-03-08
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-78

Affected products

  • cisco / identity_services_engine / 2.0(0.249)
  • cisco / identity_services_engine / 2.1(0.474)
  • cisco / identity_services_engine / 2.2(0.470)
  • cisco / identity_services_engine / 2.2(0.903)
  • cisco / identity_services_engine / 2.3(0.298)
  • cisco / identity_services_engine / 2.4(0.192)

Matched remediation archetype

Command, code, expression, and template injection

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Check exposure

  • Trace untrusted values to process execution, interpreters, evaluators, template engines, dynamic imports, and administrative scripting features.
  • Determine whether the affected path is reachable across each trust boundary and which service account or host privilege it inherits.
  • Review configuration for optional execution features, unsafe compatibility modes, and shell invocation.

Remediate safely

  • Replace string-built commands or evaluated code with fixed operations and structured argument APIs that do not invoke a shell.
  • Use strict allowlists for operation identifiers and reject unexpected input before it reaches any interpreter.
  • Update the affected component and add inert regression tests covering metacharacters, encoding variants, and alternate request paths.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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