CVE-2018-11476
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 · uneditedAn issue was discovered on Vgate iCar 2 Wi-Fi OBD2 Dongle devices. The dongle opens an unprotected wireless LAN that cannot be configured with encryption or a password. This enables anyone within the range of the WLAN to connect to the network without authentication.
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 confidenceThe Vgate iCar 2 Wi-Fi OBD2 Dongle creates an open, unencrypted Wi-Fi access point with no authentication mechanism. This wireless network cannot be configured with WPA/WPA2 encryption or any password protection, allowing any nearby attacker to associate with the device without credentials.
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
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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 Vgate iCar 2 deviceInspect the OBD-II port (usually under the dashboard) for a Wi-Fi OBD2 dongle. The Vgate iCar 2 is a small white or black device with the Vgate logo that plugs into the 16-pin OBD connector.Affected if The Vgate iCar 2 Wi-Fi OBD2 dongle is physically connected to the vehicle's OBD-II port.
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Scan for open Wi-Fi networksUse a Wi-Fi scanner app or command-line tool (such as 'netsh wlan show networks' on Windows, 'airport -s' on macOS, or 'iwlist scan' on Linux) to list nearby wireless networks.Affected if An open (unencrypted) Wi-Fi network named 'Vgate' or similar OBD2-related SSID is visible in the scan results.
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Verify network has no authenticationAttempt to connect to the detected open network. The Vgate iCar 2 does not require a password - the connection should succeed without entering any credentials.Affected if You can associate with the Wi-Fi network without providing any password or authentication, confirming the network lacks WPA/WPA2 encryption.
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Confirm no security configuration existsAccess the device's web interface (typically at 192.168.0.1 or similar) if reachable, and check the wireless security settings. There should be no option to enable WPA/WPA2 or set a password.Affected if The device firmware provides no option to configure Wi-Fi encryption or a password, indicating the vulnerability is inherent to all versions.
You are affected if the Vgate iCar 2 Wi-Fi OBD2 dongle is in use and broadcasting an open, unauthenticated Wi-Fi network that accepts connections without any password.
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 dataReplace the vulnerable dongle with a device supporting Wi-Fi security protocols (WPA2/WPA3), or implement compensating controls such as network segmentation/firewall rules to isolate the device from sensitive systems.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-11476 — 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-2018-11476 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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