CVE-2018-11518
A vulnerability allows a phreaking attack on HCL legacy IVR systems that do not use VoIP. These...
A vulnerability allows a phreaking attack on HCL legacy IVR systems that do not use VoIP. These IVR systems rely on various frequencies of audio signals; based on the frequency, certain commands and functions are processed. Since these frequencies are accepted within a phone call, an attacker can record these frequencies and use them for service activations. This is a request-forgery issue when the required series of DTMF signals for a service activation is predictable (e.g., the IVR system does not speak a nonce to the caller). In this case, the IVR system accepts an activation request from a less-secure channel (any loudspeaker in the caller's physical environment) without verifying that the request was intended (it matches a nonce sent over a more-secure channel to the caller's earpiece).
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
NVD Score used
8.1
A vulnerability allows a phreaking attack on HCL legacy IVR systems that do not use VoIP. These IVR systems rely on various frequencies of audio signals; based on the frequency, certain commands and functions are processed. Since these frequencies are accepted within a phone call, an attacker can record these frequencies and use them for service activations. This is a request-forgery issue when the required series of DTMF signals for a service activation is predictable (e.g., the IVR system does not speak a nonce to the caller). In this case, the IVR system accepts an activation request from a less-secure channel (any loudspeaker in the caller's physical environment) without verifying that the request was intended (it matches a nonce sent over a more-secure channel to the caller's earpiece).
- Record
CVE-2018-11518- CVSS 3.0
- 8.1 High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - CVSS 2.0
- 6.8 Medium
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P - Weakness
- CWE-20
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
CVE List No score
A vulnerability allows a phreaking attack on HCL legacy IVR systems that do not use VoIP. These IVR systems rely on various frequencies of audio signals; based on the frequency, certain commands and functions are processed. Since these frequencies are accepted within a phone call, an attacker can record these frequencies and use them for service activations. This is a request-forgery issue when the required series of DTMF signals for a service activation is predictable (e.g., the IVR system does not speak a nonce to the caller). In this case, the IVR system accepts an activation request from a less-secure channel (any loudspeaker in the caller's physical environment) without verifying that the request was intended (it matches a nonce sent over a more-secure channel to the caller's earpiece).
- Record
CVE-2018-11518- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2018-3547 No score
A vulnerability allows a phreaking attack on HCL legacy IVR systems that do not use VoIP. These IVR systems rely on various frequencies of audio signals; based on the frequency, certain commands and functions are processed. Since these frequencies are accepted within a phone call, an attacker can record these frequencies and use them for service activations. This is a request-forgery issue when the required series of DTMF signals for a service activation is predictable (e.g., the IVR system does not speak a nonce to the caller). In this case, the IVR system accepts an activation request from a less-secure channel (any loudspeaker in the caller's physical environment) without verifying that the request was intended (it matches a nonce sent over a more-secure channel to the caller's earpiece).
- Record
EUVD-2018-3547- Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-vv3x-8gqc-m4c5
8.1
A vulnerability allows a phreaking attack on HCL legacy IVR systems that do not use VoIP. These...
A vulnerability allows a phreaking attack on HCL legacy IVR systems that do not use VoIP. These IVR systems rely on various frequencies of audio signals; based on the frequency, certain commands and functions are processed. Since these frequencies are accepted within a phone call, an attacker can record these frequencies and use them for service activations. This is a request-forgery issue when the required series of DTMF signals for a service activation is predictable (e.g., the IVR system does not speak a nonce to the caller). In this case, the IVR system accepts an activation request from a less-secure channel (any loudspeaker in the caller's physical environment) without verifying that the request was intended (it matches a nonce sent over a more-secure channel to the caller's earpiece).
- Record
GHSA-vv3x-8gqc-m4c5- CVSS 3.0
- 8.1 High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-20
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2018-11518 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 8.1) in Hcltech Legacy Ivr Firmware, published May 30, 2018. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.37%, the 72nd percentile. No source names a fixed version.
References
twitter.com/mishradhiraj_/status/1001664440759091207
datarift.blogspot.com/2018/05/CVE-2018-11518-abusing-ivr-systems.html
virgil-cj.blogspot.com/2018/05/0day-legacy-ivr-lets-phreak.html
twitter.com/mishradhiraj_/status/1001664204485652482
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-11518
github.com/advisories/GHSA-vv3x-8gqc-m4c5