CVE-2018-3834
An exploitable permanent denial of service vulnerability exists in Insteon Hub running firmware...
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.
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
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
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.
- Record
CVE-2018-3834- CVSS 3.0
- 8.7 High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2018-15620
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.
- Record
EUVD-2018-15620- CVSS 3.0
- 8.7 High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-9hrj-7j37-g424
An exploitable permanent denial of service vulnerability exists in Insteon Hub running firmware...
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.
- Record
GHSA-9hrj-7j37-g424- CVSS 3.0
- 7.4 High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-346
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
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.
- Record
CVE-2018-3834- CVSS 3.1
- 7.4 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H - CVSS 3.0
- 8.7 High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:H - CVSS 2.0
- 7.8 High
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:C - Weakness
- CWE-346
- 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-2018-3834 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 8.7) in Insteon, published August 2, 2018. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.51%, the 43rd percentile. No source names a fixed version.