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CVE-2018-5389

23
FAUCET Score

CVE-2018-5389 describes a vulnerability in the Internet Key Exchange v1 (IKEv1) main mode, specifically affecting implementations of IETF Internet Key Exchange. This flaw allows for offline dictionary or brute-force attacks against Pre-Shared Keys (PSKs), which was previously thought only possible in aggressive mode. A successful attack could enable an attacker to recover weak PSKs or impersonate a victim host or network. The vulnerability is rated Medium severity (CVSS 5.9), indicating it can be exploited remotely over the network with high attack complexity, leading to high confidentiality impact without affecting integrity or availability. While the EPSS score is low, suggesting a low probability of exploitation, the potential for unauthorized access is significant. Currently, there is no evidence of active exploitation, and no public exploit code is available in Metasploit, Nuclei, or ExploitDB. The vulnerability has also received minimal community discussion or media coverage, suggesting it is not a widely publicized or actively targeted threat.

Impacted Technologies

VendorProductVersion(s)CPE
1.0CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:ietf:internet_key_exchange:1.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

CVSS Data

CVSS version used by this source: 3.0

5.9MEDIUM

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Attack Vector
NETWORK
Attack Complexity
HIGH
Privileges Required
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact
HIGH
Integrity Impact
NONE
Availability Impact
NONE
Exploitability Score
2.2
Impact Score
3.6
CvssVersion
3.0

Exploit Intelligence

EPSS Score
3.04%
Probability of exploitation in next 30 days
EPSS Percentile
86.1%
Percentile rank of EPSS score among Peer Group
As of 2026-07-24
Model: v2026.06.15
This CVE's current EPSS score of 0.0304 is in the 79th percentile among its peer group of 19,954 CVEs.

Social Chatter

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.0 Twitter, 0.0 Reddit, 0.0 Bluesky, 0.0 Mastodon, and 0.2 GitHub mentions.

Media Mentions

No media coverage found for this CVE.

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.0 InfoSec Media, 0.0 Vendor Blog, and 0.0 Security Researcher mentions.

Remediation

Vendor Patches (6)

redhatend of lifevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5Fixed in: ipsec-tools
redhatend of lifevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5Fixed in: openswan
redhatend of lifevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6Fixed in: libreswan
redhatend of lifevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6Fixed in: openswan
redhatend of lifevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7Fixed in: libreswan
redhatend of lifevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8Fixed in: libreswan

Vendor Advisories (1)

redhatCVE-2018-5389Moderate

IKEv1: IKEv1 protocol vulnerability in the authentication mode with pre-shared keys in the main mode of operation

Aug 14, 2018

References

blogs.cisco.com / security/great-cipher-but-where-did-you-get-that-key
Third Party Advisory
my.f5.com / manage/s/article/K42378447
web-in-security.blogspot.com / 2018/08/practical-dictionary-attack-on-ipsec-ike.html
ExploitThird Party Advisory
kb.cert.org / vuls/id/857035
Third Party AdvisoryUS Government Resource
usenix.org / system/files/conference/usenixsecurity18/sec18-felsch.pdf
Third Party Advisory