CVE-2018-12242
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 Symantec Messaging Gateway product prior to 10.6.6 may be susceptible to an authentication bypass exploit, which is a type of issue that can allow attackers to potentially circumvent security mechanisms currently in place and gain access to the system or network.
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 · moderate confidenceThe Symantec Messaging Gateway product prior to version 10.6.6 contains an authentication bypass vulnerability that allows attackers to circumvent existing security mechanisms and gain unauthorized access to the system or network. This critical flaw enables remote attackers to potentially achieve full access without proper 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 data< 10.6.6CVSS 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
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/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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Confirm Symantec Messaging Gateway installationLocate the product on the system or check installed applications for 'Symantec Messaging Gateway' or 'SMG'Affected if Symantec Messaging Gateway is present on the system
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Identify installed versionCheck the installed version of Symantec Messaging Gateway through the product interface, command line, or system inventoryAffected if The installed version is less than 10.6.6 or cannot be determined to be 10.6.6 or later
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Compare version against affected rangeVerify the exact version number against the affected range of versions prior to 10.6.6Affected if The version is any release prior to 10.6.6, regardless of minor patch level
A system is affected if Symantec Messaging Gateway is installed and the installed version is any release prior to version 10.6.6.
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.
dbcve · scoped10.6.6
Upgrade Symantec Messaging Gateway to version 10.6.6 or later to remediate the authentication bypass vulnerability.
Symantec Messaging Gateway version 10.6.6
- Check current installed version of Symantec Messaging Gateway
- Download the SMG 10.6.6 version from the official Symantec support portal
- Review upgrade documentation and release notes for any prerequisites
- Backup current configuration and data
- Perform the upgrade to version 10.6.6
- Verify the upgrade was successful and the version is now 10.6.6
- Test that authentication mechanisms are functioning correctly
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,808.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-12242 — 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-2018-12242 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