TI-2018-03922 Aliases CVE-2018-5389 GHSA-999m-cq5c-hqgx

The Internet Key Exchange v1 main mode is vulnerable to offline dictionary or brute force…

LOW 32CWE-521Published 2018-09-06 · Updated 2024-08-05

Key facts

Attack vector: Network
Privileges required: None
User interaction: None
Attack complexity: High
Impact type: Security bypass
Confidentiality · integrity · availability: High · None · None
Fix status: Will not fix Red Hat: no fix planned

Attack profile from CVSS 3.0 · NVD. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-521.

Summary

The Internet Key Exchange v1 main mode is vulnerable to offline dictionary or brute force attacks. Reusing a key pair across different versions and modes of IKE could lead to cross-protocol authentication bypasses. It is well known, that the aggressive mode of IKEv1 PSK is vulnerable to offline dictionary or brute force attacks. For the main mode, however, only an online attack against PSK authentication was thought to be feasible. This vulnerability could allow an attacker to recover a weak Pre-Shared Key or enable the impersonation of a victim host or network.

Why it matters now

EPSS 0.0309 87th percentileScored 2026-11-07

Public exploit Yes 1 exploit referenceTagged by NVD

Fix Will not fix Red Hat: no fix planned

SSVC decision points

Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.

Affected products

Vendor	Product	Affected versions	Fixed in	Status	Source
strongSwan	Strongswan	5.5.1	—	No fix listed	CNA

Strongswan VendorstrongSwan Affected 5.5.1 Fixed in — No fix listed CNA

CPE configurations NVD · 1

CPE	Versions	Role	Vendor
cpe:2.3:a:ietf:internet_key_exchange:1.0:::::::*	1.0	Vulnerable	IETF

cpe:2.3:a:ietf:internet_key_exchange:1.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 1.0 Vulnerable ·IETF

Remediation

No fixed version listed by the sources yet.

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →

Product	Status	Plan or fix
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5	Affected	No fix planned: Will not fix
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6	Affected	No fix planned: Will not fix
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7	Affected	No fix planned: Will not fix
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8	Affected	No fix planned: Will not fix

Timeline

2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2018-5389
2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-999m-cq5c-hqgx

References

Exploit 1

https://web-in-security.blogspot.com/2018/08/practical-dictionary-attack-on-ipsec-ike.html

Advisory 3

Other 1

https://my.f5.com/manage/s/article/K42378447

TI-2023-22300 strongSwan before 5.9.12 has a buffer overflow and possible unauthenticated remote code… CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
TI-2015-03374 strongSwan 5.2.2 and 5.3.0 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (daemon… CVSS 3.0CRITICAL 9.8
TI-2004-00531 FreeS/WAN 1.x and 2.x, and other related products including superfreeswan 1.x, openswan… CVSS 2.0HIGH 10.0
TI-2026-20255 strongSwan 4.5.0 < 6.0.5 EAP-TTLS AVP Parsing Integer Underflow CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.7
TI-2023-11610 strongSwan 5.9.8 and 5.9.9 potentially allows remote code execution because it uses a… CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
TI-2026-21012 strongMan vulnerable to private credential recovery due to key and counter reuse CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.7

See all 52 →

Sources

This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences