CVE-2018-12201
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 · uneditedBuffer overflow vulnerability in Platform Sample / Silicon Reference firmware for 8th Generation Intel(R) Core Processor, 7th Generation Intel(R) Core Processor, Intel(R) Pentium(R) Silver J5005 Processor, Intel(R) Pentium(R) Silver N5000 Processor, Intel(R) Celeron(R) J4105 Processor, Intel(R) Celeron(R) J4005 Processor, Intel Celeron(R) N4100 Processor and Intel(R) Celeron N4000 Processor may allow privileged user to potentially execute arbitrary code via local access.
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 confidenceBuffer overflow vulnerability in Intel platform sample and silicon reference firmware affecting 7th and 8th generation Core processors, Pentium Silver, and Celeron models. The flaw allows a privileged local user to potentially execute arbitrary code via the overflow, indicating inadequate bounds checking in firmware code.
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 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/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 your processor generationRun 'wmic cpu get name,processorid' on Windows or 'cat /proc/cpuinfo' on Linux to view processor model. Look for 7th gen (Kaby Lake) or 8th gen (Coffee Lake) Intel Core, Pentium Silver, or Celeron designations.Affected if Processor is a 7th or 8th generation Intel Core, Pentium Silver, or Celeron model.
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Check system firmware versionOn Windows, run 'wmic bios get smbiosbiosversion' or check UEFI/BIOS setup screen. On Linux, run 'dmidecode -s bios-version' or check /sys/class/dmi/id/bios_version.Affected if Firmware version is present (since all versions of the affected firmware types are vulnerable).
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Determine firmware vendor/typeRun 'dmidecode -s bios-vendor' on Linux or check BIOS/UEFI setup for vendor information. Intel Platform Sample and Silicon Reference Firmware may be listed as the firmware provider.Affected if Firmware is identified as Intel Platform Sample Firmware or Intel Silicon Reference Firmware.
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Verify OEM firmware statusCheck with your system manufacturer (OEM) for firmware update availability. Run 'dmidecode -s system-manufacturer' to identify your system vendor.Affected if System uses Intel reference firmware and no vendor-specific firmware update has been applied.
You are affected if your system uses Intel Platform Sample or Silicon Reference Firmware on a 7th or 8th generation Core, Pentium Silver, or Celeron processor, as all versions of this firmware contain the buffer overflow 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 dataApply Intel firmware updates (BIOS/UEFI) for affected processor generations. Verify current firmware versions, test updates in controlled environment before deployment, and ensure rollback capabilities are in place.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $8,448.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-12201 — 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-2018-12201 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