CVE-2016-2398
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedComcast XFINITY Home Security System does not properly maintain base-station communication, which allows physically proximate attackers to defeat sensor functionality by interfering with ZigBee 2.4 GHz transmissions.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · moderate confidenceThe Comcast XFINITY Home Security System fails to maintain reliable base-station communication when subjected to RF interference. Physically proximate attackers can jam or interfere with ZigBee 2.4 GHz transmissions between sensors and the base station, causing sensors to appear inactive or fail to report their status, effectively defeating the security system's sensor functionality.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE dataall versionsCVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Adjacent
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify Xfinity Home Security System deploymentLocate and document the Comcast Xfinity Home Security base station and associated ZigBee sensors in the physical environmentAffected if The system is present, as all versions are affected by the vulnerability
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Check base station sensor statusAccess the base station admin interface or mobile app and review the current sensor status list, noting any sensors marked as inactive, offline, or not respondingAffected if Sensors appear inactive or fail to report their status consistently
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Review base station event and communication logsExamine the base station logs for patterns of sensor communication failures, missed heartbeats, or frequent reconnection attempts between sensors and the base stationAffected if Logs show repeated sensor communication failures or loss of connectivity events
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Check for RF interference detection settingsLocate and inspect the RF interference detection or jamming alert configuration options in the base station settings or security system control panelAffected if RF interference detection is not enabled or configured, or alerts are not being generated when interference occurs
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Verify ZigBee radio functionalityConfirm that the ZigBee 2.4 GHz radio on the base station is operational and actively maintaining communication with enrolled sensorsAffected if The ZigBee radio shows degraded communication or is unable to maintain reliable links with sensors under normal conditions
If a Comcast Xfinity Home Security System is deployed and sensor communication failures or inactive sensors are observed without clear explanation, the environment may be affected by this RF interference vulnerability.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataImplement RF interference detection and alerting mechanisms, add frequency hopping or spread spectrum techniques to the ZigBee communication protocol, and enable fallback communication or tamper notifications when RF interference is detected.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation40.0 h
- Testing24.0 h
- Review / QA12.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $23,296.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-2398 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2016-2398 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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