CVE-2018-0249
Description
A vulnerability when handling incoming 802.11 Association Requests for Cisco Aironet 1800 Series Access Point (APs) on Qualcomm Atheros (QCA) based hardware platforms could allow an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected system. A successful exploit could prevent new clients from joining the AP. The vulnerability is due to incorrect handling of malformed or invalid 802.11 Association Requests. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a malformed stream of 802.11 Association Requests to the local interface of the targeted device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause a DoS situation on an affected system, causing new client 802.11 Association Requests to fail. This vulnerability affects the following Cisco products: Aironet 1560 Series Access Points, Aironet 1810 Series OfficeExtend Access Points, Aironet 1810w Series Access Points, Aironet 1815 Series Access Points, Aironet 1830 Series Access Points, Aironet 1850 Series Access Points, Aironet 2800 Series Access Points, Aironet 3800 Series Access Points. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvg02116.
AI Insight
LLM-synthesized narrative grounded in this CVE's description and references.
An unauthenticated, adjacent attacker can cause a DoS on Cisco Aironet 1800 series APs by sending malformed 802.11 Association Requests, preventing new clients from joining.
Vulnerability
A vulnerability in the handling of incoming 802.11 Association Requests on Cisco Aironet 1800 Series Access Points (APs) on Qualcomm Atheros (QCA) based hardware platforms allows an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition. The issue is due to improper handling of malformed or invalid 802.11 Association Requests [1]. A successful exploit prevents new clients from joining the AP. This affects the following Cisco products: Aironet 1560 Series, 1810 Series OfficeExtend, 1810w Series, 1815 Series, 1830 Series, 1850 Series, 2800 Series, and 3800 Series Access Points [1]. Cisco Bug ID: CSCvg02116 [1].
Exploitation
An attacker must be within the radio range (adjacent to the network) and does not require authentication. The exploit consists of sending a malformed stream of 802.11 Association Requests to the local interface of the targeted device [1]. No user interaction or prior access to the target is needed.
Impact
A successful exploitation results in a denial of service (DoS) condition on the affected access point. This causes new 802.11 Association Requests from clients to fail, effectively preventing new clients from joining the wireless network [1]. The confidentiality and integrity of the system are not affected, but availability (new client connections) is impacted.
Mitigation
Cisco has released software updates to address this vulnerability. Fixed software versions are available for all affected product lines [1]. There are no workarounds available [1]. Users should upgrade to the latest recommended version as provided in the Cisco Security Advisory.
AI Insight generated on May 25, 2026. Synthesized from this CVE's description and the cited reference URLs; citations are validated against the source bundle.
Affected products
1Patches
0No patches discovered yet.
Vulnerability mechanics
AI mechanics synthesis has not run for this CVE yet.
References
2- www.securitytracker.com/id/1040816mitrevdb-entryx_refsource_SECTRACK
- tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20180502-aironet-dosmitrex_refsource_CONFIRM
News mentions
0No linked articles in our index yet.