# CVE-2018-3834: Code injection in Insteon

> An attacker can permanently brick the device by serving a valid but incompatible firmware image via a man-in-the-middle attack on the update channel.

- **Severity:** High 8.7 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 2 Aug 2018
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-9hrj-7j37-g424

## What is CVE-2018-3834?

CVE-2018-3834 is a high-severity code injection vulnerability in Insteon Hub Firmware, published on 2 Aug 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An exploitable permanent denial of service vulnerability exists in Insteon Hub running firmware version 1013. The firmware upgrade functionality, triggered via PubNub, retrieves signed firmware binaries using plain HTTP requests. The device doesn't check the kind of firmware image that is going to be installed and thus allows for flashing any signed firmware into any MCU. Since the device contains different and incompatible MCUs, flashing one firmware to the wrong MCU will result in a permanent brick condition. To trigger this vulnerability, an attacker needs to impersonate the remote server "cache.insteon.com" and serve a signed firmware image.

Weakness: CWE-346 (Origin Validation Error)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-3834?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Insteon Hub Firmware.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-3834?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-3834 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-3834 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-3834 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Insteon Hub Firmware

- [CVE-2017-14454](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-14454/): Memory corruption in Hub (high 8.5)
- [CVE-2017-16256](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-16256/): Memory corruption in Hub (high 8.5)
- [CVE-2017-16257](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-16257/): Memory corruption in Hub (high 8.5)
- [CVE-2017-16258](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-16258/): Memory corruption in Hub (high 8.5)
- [CVE-2017-16259](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-16259/): Memory corruption in Hub (high 8.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-3834 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-3834 is a high-severity code injection vulnerability in Insteon Hub Firmware, published on 2 Aug 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-2018-3834 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Insteon Hub Firmware. 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-2018-3834/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-3834/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-3834
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-3834
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-3834

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-3834/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.