CVE-2018-7544
9.1 · CRITICALOverview
CVE-2018-7544 is a critical-severity vulnerability affecting openvpn openvpn. It was published on March 16, 2018 and has a CVSS 3.0 base score of 9.1 (CRITICAL).
This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.0 base score of 9.1, rated CRITICAL. It can be exploited remotely over the network. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.
Technical Description
A cross-protocol scripting issue was discovered in the management interface in OpenVPN through 2.4.5. When this interface is enabled over TCP without a password, and when no other clients are connected to this interface, attackers can execute arbitrary management commands, obtain sensitive information, or cause a denial of service (SIGTERM) by triggering XMLHttpRequest actions in a web browser. This is demonstrated by a multipart/form-data POST to http://localhost:23000 with a "signal SIGTERM" command in a TEXTAREA element. NOTE: The vendor disputes that this is a vulnerability. They state that this is the result of improper configuration of the OpenVPN instance rather than an intrinsic vulnerability, and now more explicitly warn against such configurations in both the management-interface documentation, and with a runtime warning
Remediation
Check the references section for vendor advisories and patches from openvpn. Update openvpn to the latest patched version. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.
Affected Products
| Vendor | Product | Versions | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| openvpn | openvpn | 0 | Affected |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CVE-2018-7544?
CVE-2018-7544 is a critical-severity vulnerability affecting openvpn openvpn. It was published on March 16, 2018 and has a CVSS 3.0 base score of 9.1 (CRITICAL).
How severe is CVE-2018-7544?
This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.0 base score of 9.1, rated CRITICAL. It can be exploited remotely over the network. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.
How do I fix or remediate CVE-2018-7544?
Check the references section for vendor advisories and patches from openvpn. Update openvpn to the latest patched version. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.
How can CyberStrike help with CVE-2018-7544?
CyberStrike's AI-powered security agents can automatically detect CVE-2018-7544 across your infrastructure using autonomous pentesting, DAST scanning, and HackBrowser. The platform continuously monitors for known vulnerabilities and provides actionable remediation guidance prioritized by real-world exploitability.
How CyberStrike Helps
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