# CVE-2018-18558: Security feature bypass in n/a

> A physically proximate attacker can bypass secure boot and execute arbitrary code in ESP-IDF if flash encryption is disabled or another write vulnerability exists.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.4 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:P/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 13 May 2019
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-369v-4h43-wwr9

## What is CVE-2018-18558?

CVE-2018-18558 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 13 May 2019. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An issue was discovered in Espressif ESP-IDF 2.x and 3.x before 3.0.6 and 3.1.x before 3.1.1. Insufficient validation of input data in the 2nd stage bootloader allows a physically proximate attacker to bypass secure boot checks and execute arbitrary code, by crafting an application binary that overwrites a bootloader code segment in process_segment in components/bootloader_support/src/esp_image_format.c. The attack is effective when the flash encryption feature is not enabled, or if the attacker finds a different vulnerability that allows them to write this binary to flash memory.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-18558?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Espressif Esp-Idf.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-18558?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-18558 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-18558 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-18558 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2026-45328](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-45328/): ESF-IDF: Out-of-Bounds Write in ESP-TEE Secure Service Wrappers (critical 9.3)
- [CVE-2024-53406](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-53406/): Auth bypass in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2021-28139](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-28139/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2024-33453](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-33453/): Information disclosure in n/a (high 8.1)
- [CVE-2019-12587](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-12587/): Weak cryptography in n/a (high 8.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-18558 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-18558 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 13 May 2019. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-18558 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. 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-2018-18558/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-18558/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-18558
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-18558
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-18558

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-18558/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.