CVE-2018-17614
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 · uneditedThis vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on vulnerable installations of Losant Arduino MQTT Client prior to V2.7. User interaction is not required to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within the parsing of MQTT PUBLISH packets. The issue results from the lack of proper validation of the length of user-supplied data prior to copying it to a fixed-length stack-based buffer. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code in the context of the current process. Was ZDI-CAN-6436.
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 confidenceStack-based buffer overflow in Losant Arduino MQTT Client when parsing MQTT PUBLISH packets. The library fails to validate input length before copying user-supplied data to a fixed-size stack buffer, enabling remote code execution without user interaction. The vulnerability exists in versions prior to V2.7.
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< 2.7CVSS 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
- Adjacent
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:A/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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Locate Losant Arduino MQTT Client library installationCheck the Arduino libraries folder (typically ~/Documents/Arduino/libraries/ or similar), or for platformio projects check .pio/libdeps/. Look for a folder named 'LosantArduinoMqttClient' or similar.Affected if The library folder exists in the project or system libraries directory
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Identify the installed library versionOpen the library.properties file inside the Losant Arduino MQTT Client library folder and read the 'version' field, or check the VERSION file if present.Affected if The version field shows a number lower than 2.7 (e.g., 2.6, 2.5, 1.x)
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Verify project dependency on the vulnerable libraryFor Arduino: check library.json or library.properties in the project. For PlatformIO: check platformio.ini under lib_deps. For manual inclusion: check #include statements for the Losant MQTT header files.Affected if The project explicitly includes or depends on the Losant Arduino MQTT Client library
A user is affected if the Losant Arduino MQTT Client library is present in their environment with a version number less than 2.7.
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 data2.7
Upgrade Losant Arduino MQTT Client to version 2.7 or later to obtain the patched library that properly validates PUBLISH packet data lengths before buffer operations.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,224.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-17614 — 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-2018-17614 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
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