Threats / VMware / CVE-2018-6961
CVE-2018-6961
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
VMware SD-WAN Edge vulnerability
VMware SD-WAN Edge contains a command injection vulnerability in the local web UI that allows remote code execution.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
A command injection flaw in VMware SD-WAN Edge's web interface enables unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary commands with system privileges, leading to complete infrastructure compromise.
CISA KEV Yes · 2022-03-254EPSS 0.86431 (verify live)5Exploit Weaponized · public PoC6CVSS 8.1 (CISA)3CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Impact: total3
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreExploit available
Fully weaponized — public exploit code is cataloged for this vulnerability.We link the existence of the exploit; we do not host or redistribute payloads.
Reported exploitation
165 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-03-25).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.86431 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 8.1 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) · Affected: VMware, SD-WAN Edge. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.CVSS — CISA-assigned via the ADP container (CVE.org), version 3.1; the CNA left no metrics, so CISA's own score is used ahead of NVD.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-78 OS Command Injection — weakness family: Injection.CWE assignment from the public NVD record (may be stale); the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
CISA SSVC (triage disposition)
Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical Impact: totalCISA's own stakeholder-specific triage inputs, published in the CVE record (CISA Coordinator role). NOTE: this is CISA's three decision points; the final Act/Attend/Track decision also requires a Mission & Well-being input not published here, so no overall decision is asserted.
Currency of the record
CISA added this to its KEV catalog 1383 days after the CVE record was published.KEV lag = CISA-KEV dateAdded − CVE.org datePublished; a floor on how long the known-exploited flaw sat in the public record before the federal catalog listed it. Severity/weakness here is CNA- or CISA-assigned (current at disclosure), independent of NVD's analysis backlog.
Public exploit available
Public exploit tooling is catalogued for this CVE (a public proof-of-concept / detection template). Catalog entries: nuclei template. We link the catalog page(s) only — no payload or code is hosted or restated here.Link, never host — the catalog page is the source; basicsecurity.net does not redistribute payloads.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I identify the SD-WAN Edge web UI endpoint and craft a malicious input containing shell metacharacters to break out of intended command context.
Business
Network edge devices lose integrity; attackers gain persistent access to branch office infrastructure and can pivot to internal networks.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I execute arbitrary system commands through the injected payload, establishing reverse shells or deploying malware directly on the compromised device.
Business
Operational technology and data flows through SD-WAN are intercepted, exfiltrated, or corrupted; business continuity is disrupted across multiple sites.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I use the compromised edge device as a foothold to scan internal networks, harvest credentials, and move laterally toward critical systems.
Business
Enterprise security perimeter is breached; sensitive data and intellectual property become accessible to threat actors.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05