Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software Improper Input Validation Vulnerability
CVE-2018-0173 is a security vulnerability in Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software, added to CISA KEV on March 3, 2022. Patch priority: Patch this week.
What it is
A vulnerability in the Cisco IOS Software and Cisco IOS XE Software function that restores encapsulated option 82 information in DHCP Version 4 (DHCPv4) packets can allow for denial-of-service (DoS).
Who's affected
Affects anyone with Cisco networking or security appliances on their network — typically a firewall, switch, or remote-access VPN. That device controls traffic to and from every workstation; exploitation can mean an attacker pivots inside the network without touching any user device.
What to do
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
If you don't have someone in-house to verify the patch deployed across every endpoint — or you're not sure whether you're affected — that's exactly the kind of triage we do. Book a free 20-minute triage call.
Insurance readiness
Your insurer will ask if this is patched.
Unpatched entries on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list are exactly what cyber-insurance carrier questionnaires probe for, and knowing which controls they check is how you keep a renewal from stalling.
Get the free carrier questionnaire →Severity
CVSS base score: 8.6 — HIGH
Weakness classification: CWE-20
CISA due date
Federal deadline: March 17, 2022. Federal agencies must complete the required action by this date. For private SMBs the deadline is advisory — but treat it as a strong recommendation, especially if you handle regulated data (HIPAA, GLBA, ABA model rules).
EPSS
EPSS score: 7.7% — higher than 94% of all scored CVEs.
EPSS estimates the probability of exploitation activity in the next 30 days. Every entry on this site is already confirmed exploited, so read it as relative urgency among the things you still have open, not as permission to wait.
Other exploited Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software entries
More CISA KEV entries for Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software. Same product line, same actively-exploited status.
Source
This entry comes from CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, public US-Government data we pull daily. The plain-language framing and the what-to-do guidance above are ours. View the original entry on cisa.gov.