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E Alert FirmwareOperating system · Philips

CVE-2018-8850

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-09-26
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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
Philips e-Alert Unit (non-medical device), Version R2.1 and prior. The software does not validate input properly, allowing an attacker to craft the input in a form that is not expected by the rest of the application. This would lead to parts of the unit receiving unintended input, which may result in altered control flow, arbitrary control of a resource, or arbitrary code execution.

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 confidence

The Philips e-Alert Unit R2.1 and prior versions fail to properly validate input, allowing attackers to craft malicious input in unexpected formats. This insufficient input validation enables altered control flow, potential resource manipulation, or arbitrary code execution within the device.

MitigationImplement comprehensive input validation and sanitization across all application entry points; contact Philips for firmware updates addressing this vulnerability in the e-Alert Unit.

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
E Alert FirmwareOperating system
Affected:<= r2.1

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:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify Philips e-Alert Unit in your environment
    Locate and inventory Philips e-Alert hardware devices on your network or physical premises
    Affected if You have a Philips e-Alert Unit deployed
  2. Determine the installed firmware version
    Access the device administrative interface, check system information page, or use device command-line interface to retrieve the firmware version
    Affected if The firmware version displayed is r2.1 or earlier
  3. Compare version against affected range
    Review the firmware version number against the affected range: any version <= r2.1 is vulnerable
    Affected if Installed version is r2.1 or any version number lower than r2.1
  4. Assess device network exposure
    Determine if the e-Alert Unit is accessible from network segments outside your trusted internal network
    Affected if The device is network-accessible and accepts external input without additional filtering

You are affected if you have a Philips e-Alert Unit running firmware version r2.1 or prior.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Implement comprehensive input validation and sanitization across all application entry points; contact Philips for firmware updates addressing this vulnerability in the e-Alert Unit.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Upgrade to firmware version R2.2 or later (any version subsequent to R2.1)

  1. 1. Identify the current firmware version of the Philips e-Alert Unit by accessing the device management interface or checking system documentation.
  2. 2. Navigate to the official Philips security advisory page or contact Philips customer support to obtain the fixed firmware version.
  3. 3. Download the firmware update from an official Philips source - ensure the file is obtained from a trusted channel (e.g., directly from Philips support or my.philips.com).
  4. 4. Follow Philips standard firmware update procedures for the e-Alert Unit - this typically involves accessing the device administrative interface, selecting the firmware update option, and uploading the downloaded file.
  5. 5. Verify the firmware update was successful by checking the device version information post-update.
  6. 6. Confirm the new version is greater than R2.1 (e.g., R2.2 or later) to ensure the input validation vulnerability is addressed.
Caveat Review Philips release notes for any configuration or operational changes between R2.1 and the target version before upgrading

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

Fix this in E Alert Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
28.0 hours of engineering $4,980
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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-2018-8850 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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