CVE-2018-0428

A vulnerability in the account management subsystem of Cisco Web Security Appliance (WSA) could allow an authenticated, local attacker to elevate privileges to root. The attacker must authenticate with valid administrator credentials. The vulnerability is due to improper implementation of access controls. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating to the device as a specific user to gain the information needed to elevate privileges to root in a separate login shell. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to escape the CLI subshell and execute system-level commands on the underlying operating system as root. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvj93548.

Published: 2018-08-15 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2018-0428 is rated Low Risk (39.3/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.44%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2018-0428

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.06% 0.44% +0.38%
2 2026-04-05 0.18% 0.06% -0.12%
3 2026-03-03 — 0.18% —

Full EPSS history (9 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-0428

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.7 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:H)
They need powerful rights—admin, root, or similar—before this pays off.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 0.8 5.9 [email protected]
7.2 2.0 HIGH
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
 3.9 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2018-0428

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-0428

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
cisco web_security_appliance 11.0.0-fcs-250 cpe:2.3:h:cisco:web_security_appliance:11.0.0-fcs-250:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco web_security_appliance 11.5.0-fcs-000 cpe:2.3:h:cisco:web_security_appliance:11.5.0-fcs-000:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco web_security_appliance wsa10.0.0-959 cpe:2.3:h:cisco:web_security_appliance:wsa10.0.0-959:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco web_security_appliance wsa10.5.0-fcs-000 cpe:2.3:h:cisco:web_security_appliance:wsa10.5.0-fcs-000:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2018-0428

cvelogic Threat Intelligence