Threats / Cisco / CVE-2018-0151
CVE-2018-0151
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-06-22
Cisco IOS and XE Software vulnerability
A buffer overflow vulnerability in the QoS subsystem of Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software allows unauthenticated remote attackers to cause denial of service or execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
This vulnerability poses significant risk to Cisco router and switch deployments. Unauthenticated remote exploitation enables attackers to disrupt network operations or gain administrative control without requiring valid credentials or prior system access.
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreReported exploitation
1 independent public report of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-03-03).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.14204 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
Affected: Cisco, IOS and IOS XE Software. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-119 Memory Buffer Bounds Error — weakness family: Memory safety.CWE assignment from the public NVD record; the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I craft a malicious packet targeting the QoS subsystem to trigger a buffer overflow condition.
Business
Network infrastructure becomes unstable or completely unavailable, disrupting all dependent business operations.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I send the crafted packet remotely without authentication to a vulnerable device on the network.
Business
Attackers bypass security perimeters and gain direct influence over critical routing and switching infrastructure.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges on the compromised device.
Business
Attackers establish persistent control, intercept traffic, redirect communications, or pivot to internal network segments.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05