CVE-2018-16310
Description
Technicolor TG588V V2 devices allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service (networking outage) via a flood of random MAC addresses, as demonstrated by macof. NOTE: this might overlap CVE-2018-15852 and CVE-2018-15907. NOTE: Technicolor denies that the described behavior is a vulnerability and states that Wi-Fi traffic is slowed or stopped only while the devices are exposed to a MAC flooding attack. This has been confirmed through testing against official up-to-date versions
AI Insight
LLM-synthesized narrative grounded in this CVE's description and references.
Affected products
1Patches
Vulnerability mechanics
Root cause
"The router lacks rate-limiting or table-size protection against an excessive number of unique MAC addresses, causing resource exhaustion under a MAC flooding attack."
Attack vector
An attacker who is connected to the router's network (either wired or Wi-Fi) sends a massive flood of Ethernet frames, each with a randomly generated source MAC address, using a tool such as macof [ref_id=1]. The router's forwarding table or connection-tracking logic becomes saturated, causing legitimate traffic to be dropped and resulting in a complete networking outage [ref_id=1]. The attack requires no authentication and can be launched from any device on the local network.
Affected code
The advisory does not specify any particular function, file, or code path. The vulnerability is triggered at the network interface level of the Technicolor TG588V V2 router when it processes an overwhelming flood of random MAC addresses.
What the fix does
No patch or firmware update has been published by Technicolor. The vendor disputes that the behavior is a vulnerability, stating that Wi-Fi traffic is slowed or stopped only while the devices are exposed to a MAC flooding attack, and that this has been confirmed through testing against official up-to-date versions. The only remediation documented in the advisory is to reboot the router after the attack subsides [ref_id=1].
Preconditions
- networkAttacker must be connected to the router's local network (wired or Wi-Fi)
- authNo authentication required
Reproduction
1. Connect the attacking system to the Technicolor TG588V V2 router's network. 2. Open a terminal and run `macof -i ens33 -n 10000000000` (adjust the interface name as needed). 3. Press Enter. The internet connection will be lost [ref_id=1].
Generated on May 26, 2026. Inputs: CWE entries + fix-commit diffs from this CVE's patches. Citations validated against bundle.
References
1- buddieshub27.blogspot.com/2018/09/cve-2018-16310-technicolor-tg588v-v2.htmlmitrex_refsource_MISC
News mentions
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