CVE-2018-3669
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 · uneditedA STOP error (BSoD) in the ibtfltcoex.sys driver for Intel Centrino Wireless N and Intel Centrino Advanced N adapters may allow an unauthenticated user to potentially send a malformed L2CAP Connection Request is sent to the Intel Bluetooth device via the network.
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 confidenceA denial of service vulnerability in the ibtfltcoex.sys driver for Intel Centrino Wireless N and Advanced N adapters allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to trigger a Blue Screen of Death (STOP error) by sending a malformed L2CAP Connection Request to the Intel Bluetooth device via the network. The driver fails to properly validate the malformed packet, causing a system crash.
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
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 Intel Centrino wireless adapterOpen Device Manager, expand 'Network adapters', look for Intel Centrino Wireless N or Advanced N adapter in the list. Alternatively, run 'netsh wlan show drivers' to list wireless drivers.Affected if The system has an Intel Centrino Wireless N or Advanced N adapter installed.
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Check for ibtfltcoex.sys driver presenceOpen File Explorer and navigate to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\, or run 'driverquery /v | findstr ibtfltcoex' in Command Prompt.Affected if The ibtfltcoex.sys driver file exists on the system.
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Verify Bluetooth is enabledCheck Windows Bluetooth settings: Settings > Devices > Bluetooth & other devices, or run 'powershell Get-PnpDevice -Class Bluetooth' in PowerShell.Affected if Bluetooth is turned on or the Bluetooth radio is active.
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Check wireless adapter firmware versionOpen Intel Driver & Support Assistant, or visit Intel Support site and enter the system model to check firmware version. Some systems allow firmware inspection via 'netsh wlan show interfaces'.Affected if The Intel Centrino firmware version matches the affected product range (all versions are affected per CVE description).
A user is affected if their system has an Intel Centrino Wireless N or Advanced N adapter with the ibtfltcoex.sys driver and Bluetooth functionality is enabled, since the malformed L2CAP packet can trigger the crash.
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 dataUpdate Intel wireless/Bluetooth drivers to the latest version from Intel's support site. If updates are unavailable, consider disabling Bluetooth or implementing network-level filtering to block malformed L2CAP packets.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-3669 — 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-2018-3669 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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