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Vulnerability record · CVE-2018-16158 · published 30 August 2018

CVE-2018-16158: Eaton power xpert meter 4000 firmware hard-coded credentials vulnerability

Eaton · Power Xpert Meter 4000 Firmware

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.

9.8 CVSS 3.0 Critical EPSS 35% · top 1.6% CWE-798 · Hard-coded credentials
9.8CVSS 3.0 base score, v2 10.0
35%EPSS exploitation probability, 30 days
NoNot in CISA KEV
3Affected product versions listed by NVD
5References, 3 tagged exploit
17 Jun 2026Last modified by NVD

Description

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

Affected products

3 vulnerable configurations from NVD's CPE data, grouped by vendor and product.

References

LinkTags
http://www.eaton.com/content/dam/eaton/company/news-insights/cybersecurity/security-bulletins/PXM-Advisory.pdf Vendor Advisory
https://www.ctrlu.net/vuln/0006.html ExploitThird Party Advisory
https://github.com/BrianWGray/msf/blob/master/exploits/linux/ssh/eaton_known_privkey.rb ExploitThird Party Advisory
http://www.eaton.com/content/dam/eaton/company/news-insights/cybersecurity/security-bulletins/PXM-Advisory.pdf Vendor Advisory
https://www.ctrlu.net/vuln/0006.html ExploitThird Party Advisory

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Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2018-16158), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-09-26). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.