CVE-2017-18642
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 · uneditedSyska Smart Bulb devices through 2017-08-06 receive RGB parameters over cleartext Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), leading to sniffing, reverse engineering, and replay attacks.
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 · high confidenceSyska Smart Bulb devices transmit RGB color parameters over unencrypted Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), allowing attackers within BLE range to sniff, capture, and replay commands to control the bulbs. The cleartext protocol exposes the color commands to unauthorized manipulation.
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 data<= 2017-08-06CVSS 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
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
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 the Syska smart bulb modelLocate the packaging, product label, or app listing for your smart bulb and confirm it is the Syska Smartlight Rainbow Led modelAffected if The device is a Syska Smartlight Rainbow Led Smart Bulb
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Check the installed firmware versionOpen the Syska smart bulb mobile app, navigate to device settings or about section, and record the firmware build date or version numberAffected if Firmware build date is on or before 2017-08-06, or version is <= 2017-08-06
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Verify BLE communication securityUse a BLE sniffer or BLE analysis tool (such as Wireshark with BTVS or nRF Connect) to capture traffic between the bulb and the controlling app. Inspect captured packets to determine if RGB color commands are transmitted in cleartext without encryptionAffected if RGB commands and color parameters are transmitted in plaintext without BLE link layer encryption (SMP pairing not established or using Just Works with no authentication)
If you own a Syska Smartlight Rainbow Led bulb with firmware dated 2017-08-06 or earlier and BLE traffic is unencrypted, you are affected by this 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 BLE link layer encryption (Secure Connections) and add message authentication to prevent replay attacks; deploy firmware updates to bulbs and corresponding app updates to enforce encrypted communication.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation32.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA6.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $15,744.
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-18642 — 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-2017-18642 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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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data