CVE-2018-12499
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 Motorola MBP853 firmware does not correctly validate server certificates. This allows for a Man in The Middle (MiTM) attack to take place between a Motorola MBP853 camera and the servers it communicates with. In one such instance, it was identified that the device was downloading what appeared to be a client certificate.
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 Motorola MBP853 camera firmware fails to properly validate SSL/TLS server certificates, allowing Man-in-the-Middle attackers to intercept and manipulate communications between the device and its backend servers. The device was observed downloading what appeared to be a client certificate, indicating insufficient certificate chain verification.
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
- High
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/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.
-
Identify the device modelLocate the physical device or check network inventory to confirm the exact model number is Motorola MBP853Affected if The device is a Motorola MBP853 camera - all firmware versions are affected
-
Check the firmware versionAccess the device admin interface (typically via web browser at the device IP address) and locate the firmware version information in the system settings or about sectionAffected if The firmware version displayed confirms it is a Motorola MBP853 device (all versions are affected)
-
Verify SSL/TLS certificate validation behaviorPerform a man-in-the-middle test using a tool like SSLsplit or ssldump on network traffic between the device and its backend servers, presenting an invalid or self-signed certificate to the deviceAffected if The device accepts the invalid certificate and continues communicating, demonstrating failure to validate the server certificate chain
If the device is a Motorola MBP853 with any firmware version, it is affected by this vulnerability due to improper SSL/TLS certificate validation.
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 dataSince this is a firmware-level vulnerability requiring vendor-provided patch, immediate workarounds include network segmentation to isolate IoT devices and deploying TLS inspection/monitoring at the network perimeter to detect certificate anomalies. Contact Motorola for available firmware updates.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing6.0 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 $7,968.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-12499 — 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-2018-12499 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
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
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