CVE-2018-12078
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 · uneditedThe mintToken function of a smart contract implementation for PolyAI (AI), a tradable Ethereum ERC20 token, has no period constraint, which allows the owner to increase the total supply of the digital assets arbitrarily so as to make profits, aka the "tradeTrap" issue.
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 PolyAI (AI) ERC20 token smart contract's mintToken function lacks any time-based constraints, allowing the contract owner to mint unlimited new tokens at any time. This enables arbitrary supply inflation, letting the owner profit by selling newly minted tokens on the market.
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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/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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Check if you hold or interact with PolyAI tokensReview all blockchain wallets and DeFi platforms you use for any PolyAI token balances. Search the token by name 'PolyAI' or symbol 'AI' in your wallet history.Affected if You hold any amount of PolyAI tokens
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Locate the PolyAI contract source codeSearch for 'PolyAI' on Etherscan or the relevant block explorer. Identify the contract address and view the published source code. Look for the mintToken function and examine its access controls.Affected if The contract source shows a mintToken function without time-based constraints or unlock timestamps
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Review the total supply historyOn the block explorer, check the token's total supply over time using the 'Holders' or 'Token Supply' chart. Look for any increases after the initial distribution.Affected if Total supply has increased after initial token distribution without corresponding minting constraints in the contract
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Examine minting transactionsOn the block explorer, filter for transactions that call the mint function or result in supply changes. Check if the contract owner address has executed any mint transactions.Affected if The contract owner has executed mint transactions at any time
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Verify token contract upgrade statusIf the contract is upgradeable, check if a new patched version has been deployed. Look for contract migration or replacement announcements from the PolyAI project.Affected if You are using the original vulnerable contract with no upgrade or migration performed
You are affected if you hold PolyAI tokens and the deployed contract still has an unrestricted mintToken function that the owner can call at any time.
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 time-based constraints on the minting function (e.g., only allow minting during a specific window), add a maximum supply cap, or permanently disable the minting function after initial distribution. Consider a contract migration to a patched version if upgradeability is not built in.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA8.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $8,768.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-12078 — 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-2018-12078 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
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