Prior to 2018-04-27, the reprompt feature in Amazon Echo devices could be misused by a custom Alexa skill.
Prior to 2018-04-27, the reprompt feature in Amazon Echo devices could be misused by a custom Alexa skill. The reprompt feature is designed so that if Alexa does not receive an input within 8 seconds, the device can speak a reprompt, then wait an additional 8 seconds for input; if the user still does not respond, the microphone is then turned off. The vulnerability involves empty output-speech reprompts, custom wildcard ("gibberish") input slots, and logging of detected speech. If a maliciously designed skill is installed, an attacker could obtain transcripts of speech not intended for Alexa to process, but simply spoken within the device's hearing range. NOTE: The vendor states "Customer trust is important to us and we take security and privacy seriously. We have put mitigations in place for detecting this type of skill behavior and reject or suppress those skills when we do. Customers do not need to take any action for these mitigations to work.
- Published
- May 30, 2018
- Updated
- Jun 16, 2026
- EPSS
- 1.1% · 64th percentile
- CWE
- CWE-384
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Report tools
Action score
13
Monitor
Low priority for now.
- CVSS
- 13 / 40 · 3.3 / 10
- CISA KEV
- 0 / 30 · Not listed
- EPSS
- 0 / 30 · 1.1%
Affected systems
| Vendor | Product | CPE |
|---|---|---|
| amazon | echo show firmware | cpe:2.3:o:amazon:echo_show_firmware |
| amazon | echo show | cpe:2.3:h:amazon:echo_show |
| amazon | echo plus firmware | cpe:2.3:o:amazon:echo_plus_firmware |
| amazon | echo plus | cpe:2.3:h:amazon:echo_plus |
| amazon | echo dot firmware | cpe:2.3:o:amazon:echo_dot_firmware |
| amazon | echo dot | cpe:2.3:h:amazon:echo_dot |
| amazon | echo spot firmware | cpe:2.3:o:amazon:echo_spot_firmware |
| amazon | echo spot | cpe:2.3:h:amazon:echo_spot |
| amazon | echo firmware | cpe:2.3:o:amazon:echo_firmware |
| amazon | echo | cpe:2.3:h:amazon:echo |
Affected versions
NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.
- amazon echo dot firmwarebefore 2018-04-27
- amazon echo firmwarebefore 2018-04-27
- amazon echo plus firmwarebefore 2018-04-27
- amazon echo show firmwarebefore 2018-04-27
- amazon echo spot firmwarebefore 2018-04-27
Remediation
Which version to upgrade to
Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.
No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.
Exploit status
No known public exploit
No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.
Research context
For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.
Timeline
From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.
No dated events beyond publication.
FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).
Patch and commit links
Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.
No commit or PR link among the references.
Credits
All researchersFinders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.
No credits in the CNA record.
Variant candidates
Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.
No nightly-computed relations.
Chain candidates
An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.
—
Bug bounty scope
The product’s vendor appears in a public program. Matched by name; verify the scope text in the program.
Technical details
Attack conditions
- Someone with local access to the system can trigger it.
- No account or password is required.
- A user must open a link or visit a page.
- No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
If successful
- Confidentiality
- low · data can be read
- Integrity
- none
- Availability
- none
- Attack vector
- Local
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality impact
- Low
- Integrity impact
- None
- Availability impact
- None
Weakness class (CWE)
CWE-384 · Session FixationCVSS vector
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
nvd-primary
Attack context
MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.
Attack patterns (CAPEC)
- Session Credential Falsification through ForgingCAPEC-196likelihood: Medium · Medium
- Exploitation of Trusted IdentifiersCAPEC-21likelihood: High · High
- Accessing/Intercepting/Modifying HTTP CookiesCAPEC-31likelihood: High · High
- Manipulating Opaque Client-based Data TokensCAPEC-39likelihood: High · Medium
- Session Credential Falsification through PredictionCAPEC-59likelihood: High · High
- Reusing Session IDs (aka Session Replay)CAPEC-60likelihood: High · High
- Session FixationCAPEC-61likelihood: Medium · High
ATT&CK techniques
- Access Token ManipulationT1134
- Access Token Manipulation:Token Impersonation/TheftT1134.001
- Access Token Manipulation: Create Process with TokenT1134.002
- Access Token Manipulation: Make and Impersonate TokenT1134.003
- Steal Application Access TokenT1528
- Steal Web Session CookieT1539
- Use Alternate Authentication Material:Web Session CookieT1550.004
- Forge Web CredentialsT1606
Noroxi analysis
No Noroxi analysis for this record yet
We don't hand-write analysis for all 385,000+ vulnerabilities; that wouldn't be honest. For notable, high-impact vulnerabilities our team writes the mechanism, detection and remediation steps.
We use this product, ask for helpChange log
No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.
References
- www.checkmarx.com/2018/04/25/eavesdropping-with-amazon-alexa/
- www.wired.com/story/amazon-echo-alexa-skill-spying/
- www.yahoo.com/news/amazon-alexa-bug-let-hackers-104609600.html
Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.