Sql ServerOperating system · Microsoft

CVE-2018-8273

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2018-08-15
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

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 · unedited
A buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the Microsoft SQL Server that could allow remote code execution on an affected system, aka "Microsoft SQL Server Remote Code Execution Vulnerability." This affects Microsoft SQL Server.

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-787

The program writes past the bounds of a buffer, overwriting adjacent memory an attacker can turn to their advantage. Crafted input can overwrite control data and redirect execution. Remediation is validating every index and length before a write, plus modern memory-safety mitigations.

General guidance for the out-of-bounds write class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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
Sql ServerOperating system
Affected:= 2016= 2017

CVSS 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:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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.

dbcve · scoped
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Recommended fix High confidence

SQL Server 2016: CU8 or later; SQL Server 2017: CU12 or later

  1. 1. Identify the current SQL Server version and build number by running: SELECT @@VERSION
  2. 2. Download and apply the appropriate Cumulative Update (CU) that addresses CVE-2018-8273 from the Microsoft Update Catalog or through Windows Update
  3. 3. For SQL Server 2016, apply CU8 or later (which includes the security fix for this vulnerability)
  4. 4. For SQL Server 2017, apply CU12 or later (which includes the security fix for this vulnerability)
  5. 5. After applying the update, restart the SQL Server service to load the patched binaries
  6. 6. Verify the fix was applied by checking the SQL Server build number matches the expected patched build
Caveat Standard SQL Server CU patching has minimal risk but always test in non-production first; some CUs may include query plan changes that could affect performance

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-8273 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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