CVE-2018-0147: Cisco Secure Access Control System Java Deserialization Vulnerability

CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities

Name

Cisco Secure Access Control System Java Deserialization Vulnerability

Vendor

Cisco

Product

Secure Access Control System (ACS)

Added to the catalog

2022-03-25

Due date for US federal agencies

2022-04-15

Weaknesses

CWE-20

Catalog version

2026.10.30

A vulnerability in Java deserialization used by Cisco Secure Access Control System (ACS) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to insecure deserialization of user-supplied content by the affected software.

Required action (CISA)

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Ransomware use: CISA does not mark known use of this vulnerability in ransomware campaigns.

Links in CISA's notes

• https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-0147

Read on 2026-11-02T23:39:54.475Z under licence cisa-kev-cc0@b0067899 from https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/feeds/known_exploited_vulnerabilities.json

NVD analysis

Status

Analyzed

Published

2018-03-08T07:29:00.377

Last modified

2026-06-17T01:29:56.093

Weaknesses

CWE-20, CWE-502

A vulnerability in Java deserialization used by Cisco Secure Access Control System (ACS) prior to release 5.8 patch 9 could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to insecure deserialization of user-supplied content by the affected software. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted serialized Java object. An exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the device with root privileges. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvh25988.

References

• http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/103328 (Broken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry)
• http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1040463 (Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry)
• https://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20180307-acs2 (Vendor Advisory)
• http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/103328 (Broken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry)
• http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1040463 (Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry)
• https://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20180307-acs2 (Vendor Advisory)
• https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2018-0147 (US Government Resource)

This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.

Read on 2026-11-02T23:41:35.381Z under licence nvd-api-terms-of-use@ff2a5288 from https://services.nvd.nist.gov/rest/json/cves/2.0?cveId=CVE-2018-0147

CVE record

Assigner

cisco

State

PUBLISHED

Published

2018-03-08T07:00:00.000Z

Updated

2026-01-12T22:14:20.636Z

Problem types

CWE-20

A vulnerability in Java deserialization used by Cisco Secure Access Control System (ACS) prior to release 5.8 patch 9 could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to insecure deserialization of user-supplied content by the affected software. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted serialized Java object. An exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the device with root privileges. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvh25988.

References

• 1040463
• 103328
• https://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20180307-acs2

Read on 2026-11-03T00:35:49.581Z under licence cve-terms-of-use@81bfa2f3 from https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/main/cves/2018/0xxx/CVE-2018-0147.json

Defensive techniques (MITRE D3FEND)

D3FEND maps these defensive techniques to the weakness (CWE) that NVD lists for this CVE, through the digital artifacts the weakness affects. D3FEND does not say they stop this vulnerability.

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