CVE-2018-14803
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 · uneditedPhilips e-Alert Unit (non-medical device), Version R2.1 and prior. The Philips e-Alert contains a banner disclosure vulnerability that could allow attackers to obtain extraneous product information, such as OS and software components, via the HTTP response header that is normally not available to the attacker, but might be useful information in an attack.
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 Philips e-Alert web server returns verbose HTTP response headers that disclose OS and software component version information. Attackers can use this banner information to identify specific versions and tailor attacks against known vulnerabilities in those components.
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<= r2.1CVSS 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
- Low
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/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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Identify Philips e-Alert firmware versionAccess the device administration interface or check system information page to determine the installed firmware version. Consult device documentation for version location if not immediately visible.Affected if Firmware version is r2.1 or earlier (any version <= r2.1)
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Probe the e-Alert web server HTTP headersSend an HTTP GET request to the e-Alert web server endpoint (typically port 80 or 443) using a tool like curl or a browser developer tool: curl -v http://<device-ip>/ or curl -v https://<device-ip>/Affected if Request returns HTTP response headers from the device web server
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Inspect headers for version disclosureExamine all HTTP response headers in the server reply, looking specifically for Server, X-Powered-By, or custom headers that contain version strings, operating system names, or component identifiers.Affected if Headers contain OS version numbers, software component versions, or detailed server identification strings (not generic)
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Compare against known affected versionIf firmware version was obtained in step 1, compare it to the affected range: any version up to and including r2.1 is vulnerable.Affected if Installed firmware is r2.1 or earlier AND verbose headers are present
A system is affected if it runs Philips e-Alert firmware version r2.1 or earlier AND its web server HTTP response headers disclose OS or software version information.
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 dataConfigure the embedded web server to suppress or genericize version banners in HTTP response headers, limiting disclosure to minimal server identification.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-14803 — 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-2018-14803 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data