CVE-2018-18698
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 · uneditedAn issue was discovered on Xiaomi Mi A1 tissot_sprout:8.1.0/OPM1.171019.026/V9.6.4.0.ODHMIFE devices. They store cleartext Wi-Fi passwords in logcat during the process of setting up the phone as a hotspot.
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 confidenceXiaomi Mi A1 devices running the specified firmware version (tissot_sprout:8.1.0/OPM1.171019.026/V9.6.4.0.ODHMIFE) store Wi-Fi passwords in cleartext within logcat output during the hotspot setup process. This exposes sensitive credentials through system logs that may be accessible to other applications or users with log access.
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
- 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify device modelCheck if the device is Xiaomi Mi A1 (codename tissot_sprout) by running 'getprop ro.product.device' or checking device settingsAffected if Device model is Xiaomi Mi A1 (tissot_sprout)
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Check firmware versionRun 'getprop ro.build.version.incremental' or check Android settings under About Phone to view the build numberAffected if Firmware version is 8.1.0/OPM1.171019.026/V9.6.4.0.ODHMIFE or any version on Mi A1 device
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Verify hotspot feature was usedCheck if the mobile hotspot has ever been configured or enabled on the device by examining settings or checking for hotspot-related configuration files in /data/misc/apexdata/com.android.hotspot2Affected if Mobile hotspot feature was configured or used on the device
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Inspect logcat for cleartext passwordsRun 'logcat -d | grep -i' with terms like 'hotspot', 'password', 'Wi-Fi', or 'ssid' to search for any logged credentials. Use 'logcat -v time' to see timestampsAffected if Logcat output contains cleartext Wi-Fi hotspot passwords or SSIDs
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Check for apps with log accessRun 'adb shell dumpsys package' and search for apps holding READ_LOGS permission, or check AndroidManifest.xml files for this permissionAffected if Any application on the device has READ_LOGS permission and could have accessed the logged passwords
If you have used the mobile hotspot feature on a Xiaomi Mi A1 device, your Wi-Fi passwords may have been exposed in cleartext through system logs accessible to other applications.
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 dataUsers should avoid using the mobile hotspot feature on affected devices until Xiaomi releases a firmware update that removes password logging. Consider using alternative devices or resetting the device after hotspot use to clear log entries.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-18698 — 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-2018-18698 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