CVE-2018-6480
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 type confusion issue was discovered in CCN-lite 2, leading to a memory access violation and a failure of the nonce feature (which, for example, helped with loop prevention). ccnl_fwd_handleInterest assumes that the union member s is of type ccnl_pktdetail_ndntlv_s. However, if the type is in fact struct ccnl_pktdetail_ccntlv_s or struct ccnl_pktdetail_iottlv_s, the memory at that point is either uninitialised or points to data that is not a nonce, which renders the code using the local variable nonce pointless. A later nonce check is insufficient.
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 type confusion vulnerability exists in CCN-lite 2 where the function ccnl_fwd_handleInterest incorrectly assumes a union member is of type ccnl_pktdetail_ndntlv_s when it may actually be ccnl_pktdetail_ccntlv_s or ccnl_pktdetail_iottlv_s. This causes memory access to uninitialized or incorrect data, bypassing the nonce feature used for loop prevention.
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= 2.0.0CVSS 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
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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 CCN-lite installation and versionRun 'ccnlite-version' or check the source version file (e.g., VERSION or configure.ac) to determine if version 2.0.0 is installedAffected if The installed version is CCN-lite 2.0.0 exactly
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Verify the vulnerable function exists in the buildSearch the source code for the function 'ccnl_fwd_handleInterest' in files such as ccnl-fwd.c or ccnl-ext-csx.c to confirm the code is present in the compiled binaryAffected if The function ccnl_fwd_handleInterest is compiled into the deployed binary
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Check if NDN-tlv packet parsing is enabledInspect the build configuration or source for NDN-tlv related definitions (such as USE_NDNTLV or pkt ndntlv) in header files or compile-time flagsAffected if NDN-tlv packet handling (NDNTLV) is enabled in the configuration, as the vulnerability exploits incorrect type assumption when this format is processed
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Confirm forwarded content is using NDN-tlv formatReview network traffic captures or CCN-lite debug logs to see if Interests are being received and processed in NDN-tlv (NDN Triangle Logo) encoding rather than CCN-tlv or IOT-tlvAffected if The CCN-lite node is forwarding Interests that use NDN-tlv encoding, triggering the code path where type confusion occurs
A system is affected if it runs CCN-lite version 2.0.0 with NDN-tlv packet handling enabled and processes Interests in NDN-tlv format, causing the type confusion in ccnl_fwd_handleInterest to bypass loop prevention.
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 dataImplement proper type validation to verify the union member type before accessing it, or upgrade to a patched version of CCN-lite that properly handles the union type checking.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,088.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-6480 — 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-2018-6480 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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