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CVE-2018-16117· NVD / CVE Program· CNA mitre

A shell escape vulnerability in /webconsole/Controller in Admin Portal of Sophos XG firewall 17.0.8 MR-8 allow remote authenticated attacker

A shell escape vulnerability in /webconsole/Controller in Admin Portal of Sophos XG firewall 17.0.8 MR-8 allow remote authenticated attackers to execute arbitrary OS commands via shell metacharacters in the "dbName" POST parameter.

HighCVSS 8.8 · v3.1—No exploit No fix recorded
Published
Jun 20, 2019
Updated
Jun 16, 2026
EPSS
44.3% · 99th percentile
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Report tools

JSON

Action score

48

Plan

Add it to your regular patch cycle.

CVSS
35 / 40 · 8.8 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
13 / 30 · 44.3%

Noroxi analysis

No Noroxi analysis for this record yet

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Affected systems

VendorProduct
sophossfos
sophosxg firewall

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • sophos sfosup to 17.0 inclusive
  • sophos sfos17.1

Same product

sophos: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2022-1040An authentication bypass vulnerability in the User Portal and Webadmin allows a remote attacker to execute code in Sophos Firewall version vKEV
    99Now
  • CVE-2020-12271A SQL injection issue was found in SFOS 17.0, 17.1, 17.5, and 18.0 before 2020-04-25 on Sophos XG Firewall devices, as exploited in the wildKEV
    82Now
  • CVE-2020-11503A heap-based buffer overflow in the awarrensmtp component of Sophos XG Firewall v17.5 MR11 and older potentially allows an attacker to run a
    39Monitor
  • CVE-2018-16116SQL injection vulnerability in AccountStatus.jsp in Admin Portal of Sophos XG firewall 17.0.8 MR-8 allow remote authenticated attackers to e
    36Monitor
  • CVE-2018-16118A shell escape vulnerability in /webconsole/APIController in the API Configuration component of Sophos XG firewall 17.0.8 MR-8 allows remote
    33Monitor
  • CVE-2017-18014An NC-25986 issue was discovered in the Logging subsystem of Sophos XG Firewall with SFOS before 17.0.3 MR3.
    25Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

The product’s vendor appears in a public program. Matched by name; verify the scope text in the program.

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
  • A low-privileged account is enough.
  • No user action is required.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
high · data can be read
Integrity
high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
high · the service can be disrupted
Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
High
Integrity impact
High
Availability impact
High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-78 · Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection')

CVSS vector

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

nvd-primary

Root cause

User input is inserted as text into a shell command. The shell may interpret special characters in the input as part of the command.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-78 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

ts
const host = req.body.host;exec("ping -c 1 " + host, onResult);

Fixed

ts
const host = req.body.host;if (!/^[a-z0-9.-]{1,253}$/i.test(host)) return res.sendStatus(400);execFile("ping", ["-c", "1", host], onResult);

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

ATT&CK techniques

—

Change log

No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.

References

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records