CVE-2018-6875
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 · uneditedFormat String vulnerability in KeepKey version 4.0.0 allows attackers to trigger information display (of information that should not be accessible), related to text containing characters that the device's font lacks.
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 confidenceFormat string vulnerability in KeepKey hardware wallet firmware version 4.0.0 allows unauthenticated attackers to disclose sensitive information by providing text containing characters absent from the device's font. The lack of proper input sanitization before passing user-controlled text to format functions enables reading stack memory contents that should remain inaccessible.
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= 4.0.0CVSS 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
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
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 KeepKey deviceConfirm the hardware wallet in use is a KeepKey device from Shapeshift. This vulnerability only affects KeepKey hardware wallets, not other hardware wallet brands.Affected if Device is not a KeepKey hardware wallet, then not affected by this specific CVE.
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Check firmware versionConnect KeepKey device to host computer and use the KeepKey Client or Shapeshift interface to query the installed firmware version. The firmware version is displayed in the device settings or about section.Affected if Firmware version is exactly 4.0.0 - this is the only affected version. Versions before or after 4.0.0 are not affected.
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Verify text display capabilityThe vulnerability requires user-controlled text to be passed to display functions. Determine if the device allows external text input that gets rendered on the device screen, such as address confirmation screens or custom labels.Affected if Device accepts external text input for display on the screen AND firmware is 4.0.0, then the environment is affected.
Only KeepKey devices running firmware version exactly 4.0.0 that accept external text input for display are affected by this format string 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 dataUpgrade to a patched KeepKey firmware version that implements proper format string sanitization and validates font character handling before display operations.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA6.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $8,832.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-6875 — 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-2018-6875 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
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