City almost left The Valley with nothing after being humbled by 10 man Charlton.
The home side dominated possession and chances in the second half despite being a man down.
Johann Berg Gudmundsson's screamer of a shot from 25 yards in the 88th minute earned a point for The Addicks after going behind to a Tom Adeyemi header after 12 mins.
In fact they should have won the game when Charlton missed a one on one chance with the last attack of the game.
Cardiff were in total control at half time. David Marshall had barely touched the ball and when Callum Harriott was sent off for a lunge on Craig Noone it looked like being a long afternoon for Charlton.
But embarrassingly Cardiff crumbled against the hosts and ended up with 40% possession and only just hung on for a draw.
The inability to keep hold of the ball and the way possession was gifted back to Charlton time and time again is worrying and only going to send City one way.
Charlton hit the woodwork, forced Marshall into several saves and saw the ball cleared off the line as the game the strongest.
It's now four games without a win for City. Next up it's Watford at CCS on Sunday.