Cisco ASA Improper Input Validation (CVE-2018-0228)

high Tenable OT Security Plugin ID 506171

Synopsis

The remote OT asset is affected by a vulnerability.

Description

A vulnerability in the ingress flow creation functionality of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause the CPU to increase upwards of 100% utilization, causing a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected system. The vulnerability is due to incorrect handling of an internal software lock that could prevent other system processes from getting CPU cycles, causing a high CPU condition. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a steady stream of malicious IP packets that can cause connections to be created on the targeted device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to exhaust CPU resources, resulting in a DoS condition during which traffic through the device could be delayed. This vulnerability applies to either IPv4 or IPv6 ingress traffic. This vulnerability affects Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) and Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software that is running on the following Cisco products: 3000 Series Industrial Security Appliances (ISA), ASA 5500 Series Adaptive Security Appliances, ASA 5500-X Series Next-Generation Firewalls, ASA Services Module for Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switches and Cisco 7600 Series Routers, Adaptive Security Virtual Appliances (ASAv), Firepower 2100 Series Security Appliances, Firepower 4110 Security Appliances, Firepower 9300 ASA Security Modules. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvf63718.

This plugin only works with Tenable.ot.
Please visit https://www.tenable.com/products/tenable-ot for more information.

Solution

Refer to the vendor advisory.

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 506171

File Name: tenable_ot_cisco_CVE-2018-0228.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: Remote

Family: Tenable.ot

Published: 10/6/2026

Updated: 10/6/2026

Supported Sensors: Tenable OT Security

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Low

Score: 3.3

Percentile: 50.87

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.8

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2018-0228

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 8.6

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:cisco:adaptive_security_appliance_software:98.1%2812.187%29, cpe:/o:cisco:adaptive_security_appliance_software:9

Required KB Items: Tenable.ot/Cisco

Patch Publication Date: 4/19/2018

Vulnerability Publication Date: 4/19/2018

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2018-0228

CWE: 20, 667

Detections

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