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My Book Live FirmwareOperating system · Westerndigital

CVE-2018-18472

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2019-06-19
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
Western Digital WD My Book Live and WD My Book Live Duo (all versions) have a root Remote Command Execution bug via shell metacharacters in the /api/1.0/rest/language_configuration language parameter. It can be triggered by anyone who knows the IP address of the affected device, as exploited in the wild in June 2021 for factory reset commands,

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 confidence

Command injection vulnerability in WD My Book Live/Duo NAS devices allows unauthenticated remote attackers to execute arbitrary root commands via shell metacharacters in the language parameter of the /api/1.0/rest/language_configuration API endpoint. The flaw requires no authentication and has been actively exploited in the wild.

MitigationIf no vendor firmware patch is available, isolate affected devices on a restricted network segment or replace with supported hardware; implement WAF rules to block /api/1.0/rest/language_configuration requests with shell metacharacters.

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
My Book Live FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions

CVSS 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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify the device model
    Access the device's web interface or check the physical label to confirm the model is Western Digital My Book Live or My Book Duo
    Affected if The device is a WD My Book Live or My Book Duo NAS
  2. Confirm device firmware version
    Log into the device admin interface and navigate to Settings > About or check the firmware version via the web UI footer
    Affected if Any firmware version is installed (all versions are affected)
  3. Check if the vulnerable API endpoint is reachable
    Send an HTTP GET request to http://<device-ip>/api/1.0/rest/language_configuration without any authentication credentials
    Affected if The endpoint returns an HTTP 200 response with language configuration data, indicating the API is exposed
  4. Verify command injection is possible
    Send a POST request to /api/1.0/rest/language_configuration with a test payload containing shell metacharacters in the language parameter (e.g., language=english;ls) and observe if the command executes
    Affected if The response contains output from the injected command or the device exhibits unexpected behavior indicating command execution

If you have a WD My Book Live or Duo device with any firmware version and the /api/1.0/rest/language_configuration endpoint is accessible without authentication, your device is affected by this command injection vulnerability.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

If no vendor firmware patch is available, isolate affected devices on a restricted network segment or replace with supported hardware; implement WAF rules to block /api/1.0/rest/language_configuration requests with shell metacharacters.

Recommended fix High confidence

The WD My Book Live product line was discontinued and has no successor firmware with security patches. Replace with a currently supported NAS device from Western Digital (e.g., WD Red series with current firmware) or another vendor.

  1. 1. Isolate the affected device from the internet or untrusted networks immediately since no firmware patch is available.
  2. 2. If the device is still in production use, consider migrating data to a supported storage device.
  3. 3. Monitor the device for any suspicious activity, particularly unexpected factory reset commands.
Caveat The device is end-of-life with no security support; continued use on any network carries significant risk.

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in My Book Live Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
17.0 hours of engineering $3,050
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-18472 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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