CVE-2018-16158

CRITICALNVD 9.89.8—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

Score 9.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: CRITICAL) published 2022-05-13. NVD baseline CVSS 9.8; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, nvd
Weaponized
9.8
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS: 35%CVSS: 9.8Exploit: NoneExposed: 0

No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.

Eaton Power Xpert Meter 4000, 6000, and 8000 devices before 13.4.0.10 have a single SSH private key across different customers' installations and do not properly restrict access to this key, which makes it easier for remote attackers to perform SSH logins (to uid 0) via the PubkeyAuthentication option.

CVSS v3
9.8
EG Score
9.8(medium)
EG Risk
75(Track*)
EG Risk 75/100SSVC: Track*

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity98% × 45%
Exploitation65% × 40%
Automatability30% × 15%
Action: Watch closely — could escalate to Attend.
EPSS
98.3%
KEV
Not listed

Published

August 30, 2018

Last Modified

November 21, 2024

Advisory Details (2)

Auto-updated May 28, 2026
🔬 Proof of concept available. No patch confirmed yet.
generic🟡 PoC Available

Something Broken - CTRLu.Net

https://www.ctrlu.net/vuln/0006.html
generic

msf/exploits/linux/ssh/eaton_known_privkey.rb at master · BrianWGray/msf · GitHub

https://github.com/BrianWGray/msf/blob/master/exploits/linux/ssh/eaton_known_privkey.rb

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 9× in last 7d / 32× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

  1. 2026-07-23 01:34 UTCEG score recompute
  2. 2026-07-22 22:14 UTCEG score recompute
  3. 2026-07-22 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-07-21 15:21 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-07-20 17:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-07-20 17:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-07-19 14:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-07-16 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-07-16 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-07-15 16:55 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-07-15 01:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-07-13 22:26 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-07-13 06:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-07-12 05:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-07-11 08:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-07-09 19:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-07-08 15:11 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-07-06 16:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-07-06 16:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-07-04 06:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-07-02 16:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-07-01 15:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-07-01 15:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-06-28 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-06-28 04:53 UTCEPSS rescore
Show 47 more
  1. 2026-06-28 04:53 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-06-27 03:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-06-25 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-06-25 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-06-24 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-06-24 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-06-23 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-06-21 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-06-21 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-06-21 01:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-06-21 01:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-06-18 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-06-18 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-06-17 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-06-17 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-06-16 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-06-16 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-06-15 17:45 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-06-14 23:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-06-14 23:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-06-13 22:58 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-06-13 22:58 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-06-12 23:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-06-11 13:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-06-10 22:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  26. 2026-06-08 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  27. 2026-06-08 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  28. 2026-06-07 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  29. 2026-06-07 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  30. 2026-06-05 22:45 UTCEPSS rescore
  31. 2026-06-05 22:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  32. 2026-06-05 06:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  33. 2026-06-05 06:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  34. 2026-06-04 13:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  35. 2026-06-04 13:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  36. 2026-06-02 20:11 UTCEPSS rescore
  37. 2026-06-02 20:11 UTCEPSS rescore
  38. 2026-06-01 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  39. 2026-05-29 13:41 UTCEPSS rescore
  40. 2026-05-28 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  41. 2026-05-28 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  42. 2026-05-28 03:40 UTCEG score recompute
  43. 2026-05-28 03:40 UTCGHSA enrichment
  44. 2026-05-27 13:38 UTCEPSS rescore
  45. 2026-05-27 13:38 UTCEPSS rescore
  46. 2026-05-26 07:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  47. 2026-05-26 07:17 UTCEPSS rescore

Publicly available exploits

(1 reference)

Working exploit code is in the public domain (1 Metasploit module). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.

  • Metasploitauxiliary/scanner/ssh/eaton_xpert_backdoor✓ verified
    First seen Jul 18, 2018

    Eaton Xpert Meter SSH Private Key Exposure Scanner

    Open source ↗

Related CVEs(same CWE)

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2018-16158?
CVE-2018-16158 is a critical vulnerability published on August 30, 2018. Eaton Power Xpert Meter 4000, 6000, and 8000 devices before 13.4.0.10 have a single SSH private key across different customers' installations and do not properly restrict access to this key, which makes it easier for remote attackers to perform SSH logins (to uid 0) via the PubkeyAuthentication…
When was CVE-2018-16158 disclosed?
CVE-2018-16158 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on August 30, 2018, with the most recent update on November 21, 2024. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2018-16158 actively exploited?
CVE-2018-16158 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 98.3% percentile likelihood of exploitation in the next 30 days — higher percentiles indicate greater predicted risk.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2018-16158?
CVE-2018-16158 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2018-16158?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2018-16158, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

Explore the affected products and dependency analysis for CVE-2018-16158

Explore →

Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2018-16158?

EchelonGraph automatically scans your cloud infrastructure and maps CVE exposure using blast radius analysis.

Start Free Scan →Browse All CVEs