CVE-2018-11284
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 · uneditedSpoofed SMS can be used to send a large number of messages to the device which will in turn initiate a flood of registration updates with the server in snapdragon mobile and snapdragon wear in versions MDM9206, MDM9607, MDM9650, SD 210/SD 212/SD 205, SD 625, SD 636, SDA660, SDM630, SDM660, SDX20
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 confidenceThis vulnerability in Qualcomm Snapdragon baseband/modem firmware allows attackers to send spoofed SMS messages that trigger excessive registration update requests to servers. The malformed or malicious SMS messages cause the device to repeatedly attempt network registration, creating a resource exhaustion condition that can be exploited for denial of service or network flooding attacks.
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 versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall 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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/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 chipset modelCheck device specifications or use 'lspci' (if available) or look in 'About phone' settings to identify the Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset model (Mdm9206, Mdm9607, Mdm9650, Sd 210, Sd 212, Sd 205, Sd 625, or Sd 636)Affected if The device uses any of the listed affected chipset models (Mdm9206, Mdm9607, Mdm9650, Sd 210, Sd 212, Sd 205, Sd 625, Sd 636)
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Check baseband firmware versionNavigate to Settings > About Phone > Baseband Version (or use AT command 'AT+CGMR' via serial terminal to modem) to determine the installed baseband/modem firmware versionAffected if The baseband firmware version matches one of the affected products listed (all versions of the listed chipsets are affected)
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Verify SMS service is enabledCheck if SMS/MMS messaging functionality is active on the device (Settings > Apps > Messaging or similar), as the vulnerability is triggered by malformed SMS packetsAffected if SMS service is enabled and the device can receive SMS messages, as this is the attack vector for triggering the vulnerability
A user is affected if their device uses any of the listed Qualcomm Snapdragon baseband chipsets (Mdm9206, Mdm9607, Mdm9650, Sd 210, Sd 212, Sd 205, Sd 625, Sd 636) with any firmware version and has SMS functionality enabled.
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 dataApply vendor-supplied firmware updates from Qualcomm and device OEMs for affected Snapdragon chipsets. Implement SMS source validation and rate-limiting on the network side to detect and block anomalous registration patterns.
- Consultation16.0 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 $25,856.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-11284 — 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-2018-11284 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
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