CVE-2018-8852
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 · uneditedPhilips e-Alert Unit (non-medical device), Version R2.1 and prior. When authenticating a user or otherwise establishing a new user session, the software gives an attacker the opportunity to steal authenticated sessions without invalidating any existing session identifier.
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 confidenceThis is a session fixation vulnerability in the Philips e-Alert Unit. When a user authenticates or establishes a new session, the application does not invalidate or regenerate the existing session identifier, allowing an attacker to pre-set a known session ID (e.g., via a malicious link) and subsequently hijack the authenticated session once the victim logs in.
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<= r2.1CVSS 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 e-Alert firmware versionAccess the Philips e-Alert Unit web interface or administrative panel and navigate to System Settings, About, or Firmware Information to view the installed firmware version numberAffected if The installed firmware version is r2.1 or any version lower than r2.1 (e.g., r2.0, r1.x)
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Verify session ID regeneration behaviorUsing a browser or HTTP tool, obtain a session identifier before authentication (e.g., capture the session cookie value), then authenticate with valid credentials, and inspect the session cookie value after successful loginAffected if The session identifier remains identical before and after authentication (session fixation vulnerability present)
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Check for session invalidation on loginStart a new browser session, note the initial session ID provided by the server, authenticate as a valid user, then attempt to use the original pre-authentication session ID to access authenticated resourcesAffected if The original session ID remains valid and grants access to authenticated areas after login
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Inspect session cookie attributesUsing browser developer tools or an HTTP proxy, capture the session cookie during login and examine the Set-Cookie header for attributes such as HttpOnly, Secure, and SameSiteAffected if The session cookie lacks Secure flag (when HTTPS is used) or lacks proper session binding attributes, indicating weak session management
You are affected if your Philips e-Alert firmware is version r2.1 or earlier AND your session identifier is not regenerated or invalidated when a user authenticates.
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 dataApply the vendor patch for e-Alert Unit version R2.1 or later that implements proper session ID regeneration upon authentication; alternatively, implement compensating controls such as IP/session binding or enforce strict HTTPS with secure session cookie attributes.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-8852 — 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-2018-8852 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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