CVE-2018-14062
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 COSPAS-SARSAT protocol allows remote attackers to forge messages, replay encrypted messages, conduct denial of service attacks, and send private messages (unrelated to distress alerts) via a crafted 406 MHz digital signal.
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 COSPAS-SARSAT international satellite-based search and rescue protocol contains a vulnerability that allows remote attackers to forge messages, replay encrypted messages, conduct denial of service attacks, and send unrelated private messages via crafted 406 MHz digital signals. This is a protocol-level flaw affecting the 406 MHz distress beacon frequency used by emergency beacons and satellites.
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
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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 Cospas-Sarsat 406 MHz equipment in your environmentInventory all emergency beacons operating on 406 MHz (EPIRBs for maritime, ELTs for aviation, PLBs for personal) and ground receiving stations that process Cospas-Sarsat signalsAffected if Any 406 MHz beacons or ground receiving stations are present in your infrastructure
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Check for cryptographic authentication implementationInspect ground receiving station documentation and configuration to determine if message authentication using the Cospas-Sarsat authentication scheme is enabled and operationalAffected if Cryptographic authentication is not implemented or is disabled on ground receiving stations
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Verify message validation and replay protectionReview receiving station configuration and signal processing settings to confirm message validation and replay attack prevention mechanisms are activeAffected if No message validation or replay protection is configured on receiving equipment
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Inspect for anomaly detection on 406 MHz signalsCheck whether monitoring systems are deployed to detect malformed, forged, or unauthorized 406 MHz distress signalsAffected if No anomaly detection system is in place for 406 MHz signal monitoring
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Identify legacy beacon usageSurvey deployed beacons for older models that lack cryptographic authentication capability per Cospas-Sarsat specificationsAffected if Legacy beacons without authentication capability are in operation
If you operate Cospas-Sarsat 406 MHz equipment without cryptographic authentication, message validation, replay protection, and anomaly detection at ground receiving stations, your environment is affected by this protocol 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 dataImplement cryptographic authentication and message validation at ground receiving stations to verify signal authenticity and prevent replay attacks; deploy anomaly detection systems to identify and filter malformed or unauthorized 406 MHz signals.
- Consultation40.0 h
- Implementation160.0 h
- Testing80.0 h
- Review / QA40.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $89,600.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-14062 — 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-2018-14062 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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