CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2018-0251 — Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Software security vulnerability

Medium CVSS 6.1

A vulnerability in the Web Server Authentication Required screen of the Clientless Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) VPN portal of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to conduct a cross-site scripting (XSS) attack against a user of that portal on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input by the web-based interface of an affected device. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by persuading a user of the interface to click a crafted link. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary script code in the context of the portal or allow the attacker to access sensitive browser-based information. This vulnerability affects the following Cisco products if they are running a vulnerable release of Cisco ASA Software: 3000 Series Industrial Security Appliances, Adaptive Security Virtual Appliance (ASAv), ASA 5500 Series Adaptive Security Appliances, ASA 5500-X Series Next-Generation Firewalls, ASA Services Module for Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switches, ASA Services Module for Cisco 7600 Series Routers. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvh20742.

Severity
Medium
CVSS
6.1 (3.0)
Published
2018-04-19
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
operating-system
Weaknesses
CWE-79

Affected products

  • cisco / adaptive_security_appliance_software / 9.8(2.15)
  • cisco / adaptive_security_appliance_software / 9.9(1)

Matched remediation archetype

Cross-site scripting and unsafe browser output

This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.

Check exposure

  • Trace reflected, stored, and DOM-derived untrusted values into HTML, attributes, URLs, styles, scripts, and client-side template sinks.
  • Identify affected origins, authenticated user roles, sensitive browser capabilities, and where content is shared across tenants.
  • Review framework escaping, rich-text sanitization, legacy templates, and client-side rendering paths.

Remediate safely

  • Use context-aware framework output encoding and safe DOM APIs; keep untrusted data out of executable contexts.
  • Sanitize intentionally supported markup with a maintained allowlist policy and validate URLs and attributes separately.
  • Update affected rendering components and add tests for every output context using inert sentinel markup.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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