# CVE-2018-17612: Hardcoded credentials in n/a

> Sennheiser HeadSetup distributes a private key for a trusted root CA, allowing attackers to spoof websites and software publishers on affected systems.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 9 Nov 2018
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-c4fc-cx58-4v39

## What is CVE-2018-17612?

CVE-2018-17612 is a high-severity vulnerability in Microsoft Windows 10, published on 9 Nov 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Sennheiser HeadSetup 7.3.4903 places Certification Authority (CA) certificates into the Trusted Root CA store of the local system, and publishes the private key in the SennComCCKey.pem file within the public software distribution, which allows remote attackers to spoof arbitrary web sites or software publishers for several years, even if the HeadSetup product is uninstalled. NOTE: a vulnerability-assessment approach must check all Windows systems for CA certificates with a CN of 127.0.0.1 or SennComRootCA, and determine whether those certificates are unwanted.

Weakness: CWE-295 (Improper Certificate Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-17612?

It affects 9 products.


Products: Microsoft Windows 10, Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows 8.1, Microsoft Windows Rt 8.1, Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Microsoft Windows Server 2012, Microsoft Windows Server 2016, Microsoft Windows Server 2019, Sennheiser Headsetup.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-17612?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-17612 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-17612 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-17612 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows 10

- [CVE-2015-2426](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-2426/): Microsoft Windows Adobe Type Manager Library Remote Code Execution (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2015-1769](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-1769/): Microsoft Windows Mount Manager Privilege Escalation (medium 6.6, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2020-1467](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-1467/): Windows Hard Link Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2021-26424](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-26424/): Windows TCP/IP Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (critical 9.9)
- [CVE-2021-28476](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-28476/): Windows Hyper-V Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (critical 9.9)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-17612 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-17612 is a high-severity vulnerability in Microsoft Windows 10, published on 9 Nov 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-17612 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Microsoft Windows 10. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-17612/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-17612/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-17612
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-17612
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-17612

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-17612/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.