CVE-2018-3638
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 · uneditedEscalation of privilege in all versions of the Intel Remote Keyboard allows an authorized local attacker to execute arbitrary code as a privileged user.
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 confidenceA local privilege escalation vulnerability in Intel Remote Keyboard allows an authorized local attacker to execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges. The vulnerability affects all versions of the software.
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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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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Check if Intel Remote Keyboard app is installedOn the mobile device, navigate to Settings > Apps or Applications Manager and look for 'Intel Remote Keyboard' in the installed applications listAffected if The Intel Remote Keyboard app appears in the list of installed applications
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Confirm the app identityTap on the app to view its details. Verify the package name or developer is Intel Corporation and the app name is specifically 'Intel Remote Keyboard'Affected if The installed app is the Intel Remote Keyboard by Intel Corporation
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Check app permissionsIn the app settings, review the permissions granted. Specifically check if the app has 'Accessibility' or 'Input Method' permissions enabledAffected if The app has been granted elevated permissions such as accessibility or input method access
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Verify app is active or configuredCheck if Intel Remote Keyboard is set as the active keyboard/input method in system settings under Language & Input or Keyboard settingsAffected if Intel Remote Keyboard is enabled as an input method or keyboard on the device
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Check if app is runningOpen the recent apps list or check running processes to see if Intel Remote Keyboard is currently active in memoryAffected if The Intel Remote Keyboard process is currently running on the device
The environment is affected if Intel Remote Keyboard mobile app is installed and active on any mobile device, as all versions of this app contain the 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 dataRemove or disable Intel Remote Keyboard from affected systems and verify no alternative keyboard input methods are required for normal operations.
- 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-2018-3638 — 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-2018-3638 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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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- 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