critical Known exploitedREV. 01

CVE-2018-0171Cisco Smart Install — Unauthenticated Code Execution on Switches

The zero-touch provisioning feature on Cisco switches accepts unauthenticated requests, letting an attacker reload or take over the switch — and it listens by default.

YOUR NEXT MOVE

Disable the Smart Install client on every switch that does not need it, and apply Cisco's update.

Read the risk

THE VITAL STATS
CVSS score
9.8/ 10
CVSS v3.1
EPSS probability
99%
Likelihood of exploitation
Attack complexity
Low
Conditions needed to exploit
Known exploited
Yes — CISA KEV
CVE published
2018-03-28
Added to KEV
2021-11-03
Exploit published
Not recorded
Confidence
high
Kill chain
initial access
MITRE ATT&CK
T1190
Severity
critical

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attacker needsNetwork access to the provisioning port

Behind the card

5 REFERENCES
Field-level provenanceTRACE THE SOURCES +

Which source supports each field, when it was retrieved, and who extracted it.

FieldsSourceRetrievedExtractorConfidence
cvss, exploitation.attack_complexity, exploitation.exploit_available, references, published_atnvd.nist.gov2026-08-07scrty-crds-pipeline/0.1high
exploitation.known_exploited, exploitation.kev_addedcisa.gov2026-08-07scrty-crds-pipeline/0.1high
epssapi.first.org2026-08-07scrty-crds-pipeline/0.1high
title, summary, severity, remediation, mitre_attack, kill_chain, recommended_action, confidence, tags, exploitation.prerequisitesnvd.nist.gov2026-08-07claude-codehigh

Printing history

THE RECORD
  1. r1Initial base card

First printing. This card has not been reprinted since publication.

crds:cve-2018-0171 · CRDS 0.1 · Issued 2026-08-07