CVE-2019-16258
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 · uneditedThe bootloader of the homee Brain Cube V2 through 2.23.0 allows attackers with physical access to gain root access by manipulating the U-Boot environment via the CLI after connecting to the internal UART interface.
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 confidenceThe U-Boot bootloader in homee Brain Cube V2 (versions through 2.23.0) contains a vulnerability allowing attackers with physical access to connect to the internal UART interface and manipulate the U-Boot environment via CLI, enabling unrestricted root access to the device.
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>= 2.0.0, <= 2.23.0CVSS 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
- Physical
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:P/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the installed Brain Cube Core firmware versionAccess the homee web interface or mobile app and navigate to the device settings to view the firmware version. Alternatively, check the device documentation or the homee cloud API for the current firmware version number.Affected if The installed version is between 2.0.0 and 2.23.0 inclusive.
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Locate the UART interface on the deviceOpen the device enclosure and visually identify the UART/serial header pins on the circuit board. This is typically a 3-6 pin header near the edge of the PCB.Affected if UART pins are physically accessible on the circuit board without removing screws or breaking seals.
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Verify physical security of the device enclosureInspect the device casing for visible screws, tamper-evident seals, or other physical barriers that would require tools to remove.Affected if The enclosure can be opened using only a flat object (like a credit card) or has obvious gaps allowing access to internal components.
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Test U-Boot console access protectionConnect a serial cable to the UART pins at 115200 baud 8N1 during device boot. Interrupt the boot process by pressing a key when prompted. Observe whether a password is required to access the U-Boot CLI.Affected if The U-Boot CLI is accessible without requiring any password, or the password prompt can be bypassed.
You are affected if your Brain Cube Core runs firmware version 2.0.0 through 2.23.0 AND the UART interface is physically accessible AND the U-Boot console lacks password protection.
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 dataPrimary mitigation involves restricting physical access to the device's UART/serial interface through enclosure security. Secondary mitigation requires obtaining and applying vendor firmware updates that patch the bootloader. Consider disabling or password-protecting U-Boot console access if the vendor provides such options.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation20.0 h
- Testing10.0 h
- Review / QA6.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-16258 — 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-2019-16258 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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