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CVE-2018-15383

Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Direct Memory Access Denial of Service Vulnerability

7.5 High

A vulnerability in the cryptographic hardware accelerator driver of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause an affected device to reload, resulting in a temporary denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability exists because the affected devices have a limited amount of Direct Memory Access (DMA) memory and the affected software improperly handles resources in low-memory conditions. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a sustained, high rate of malicious traffic to an affected device to exhaust memory on the device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to exhaust DMA memory on the affected device, which could cause the device to reload and result in a temporary DoS condition.

Attack profile

How easy it is to exploit

Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges needed
None
User interaction
None

What an attacker can affect

Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

Exploit likelihood

2.50%Up 1.5 points since Apr 14, 2021
90%50%10%1%

What each source reports

NVD Score used 7.5

A vulnerability in the cryptographic hardware accelerator driver of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause an affected device to reload, resulting in a temporary denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability exists because the affected devices have a limited amount of Direct Memory Access (DMA) memory and the affected software improperly handles resources in low-memory conditions. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a sustained, high rate of malicious traffic to an affected device to exhaust memory on the device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to exhaust DMA memory on the affected device, which could cause the device to reload and result in a temporary DoS condition.

Record
CVE-2018-15383
CVSS 3.1
7.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CVSS 2.0
7.8 HighAV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C
Weakness
CWE-400, CWE-770
Updated
2026-11-02
CVE List No score

Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance Direct Memory Access Denial of Service Vulnerability

A vulnerability in the cryptographic hardware accelerator driver of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause an affected device to reload, resulting in a temporary denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability exists because the affected devices have a limited amount of Direct Memory Access (DMA) memory and the affected software improperly handles resources in low-memory conditions. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a sustained, high rate of malicious traffic to an affected device to exhaust memory on the device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to exhaust DMA memory on the affected device, which could cause the device to reload and result in a temporary DoS condition.

Record
CVE-2018-15383
Weakness
CWE-400
Updated
2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2018-7261 No score

A vulnerability in the cryptographic hardware accelerator driver of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause an affected device to reload, resulting in a temporary denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability exists because the affected devices have a limited amount of Direct Memory Access (DMA) memory and the affected software improperly handles resources in low-memory conditions. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a sustained, high rate of malicious traffic to an affected device to exhaust memory on the device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to exhaust DMA memory on the affected device, which could cause the device to reload and result in a temporary DoS condition.

Record
EUVD-2018-7261
Updated
2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-hmv9-9gm3-c2vc 7.5

A vulnerability in the cryptographic hardware accelerator driver of Cisco Adaptive Security...

A vulnerability in the cryptographic hardware accelerator driver of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause an affected device to reload, resulting in a temporary denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability exists because the affected devices have a limited amount of Direct Memory Access (DMA) memory and the affected software improperly handles resources in low-memory conditions. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a sustained, high rate of malicious traffic to an affected device to exhaust memory on the device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to exhaust DMA memory on the affected device, which could cause the device to reload and result in a temporary DoS condition.

Record
GHSA-hmv9-9gm3-c2vc
CVSS 3.1
7.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Weakness
CWE-400, CWE-770
Updated
2026-11-02

Affected products

History

History
RecordedChangedSources
aliasesEUVD
first indexedCVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD

Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.

In short

CVE-2018-15383 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.5) in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (asa) Software, published October 5, 2018. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 2.50%, the 84th percentile. No source names a fixed version.

References

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