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CVE Record

CVE-2018-11567: 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.

UnknownCVSS not scoredNot KEV-listedUpdated
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Glexia's TakeAutomated analysismoderate

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

A malicious custom Alexa skill could make an Echo device keep listening longer than users expected and record nearby speech as transcripts. Amazon says it added mitigations to detect, reject, or suppress this behavior, and customers do not need to take action for those mitigations to work.

Executive priority

Moderate priority for privacy-sensitive environments using Echo devices or custom Alexa skills. The issue is old and vendor-mitigated, but it highlights third-party voice-assistant risk and the need for skill governance where workplace speech could be captured.

Technical view

The issue involved Alexa reprompts before 2018-04-27. Empty output-speech reprompts, wildcard input slots, and logging of detected speech could be combined so a malicious skill captured speech not intentionally addressed to Alexa. No CVSS score, CWE, or affected-version list is provided in the bundle.

Likely exposure

Exposure appears tied to Amazon Echo devices using malicious custom Alexa skills before Amazon's 2018-04-27 mitigation date. Current exposure is unclear from the provided sources, but Amazon states it mitigates this skill behavior server-side and customers need not act for those protections.

Exploitation context

The bundle describes researcher-demonstrated misuse by a maliciously designed skill. It does not provide KEV listing, confirmed in-the-wild exploitation, or evidence of broad compromise. Treat this primarily as a privacy and platform trust issue unless newer vendor evidence shows otherwise.

Researcher notes

Evidence is limited to the CVE description and public research references. The key behavior is platform-mediated capture of unintended speech through reprompt and input-slot handling. Do not claim current exploitable status without fresh Amazon guidance or reproducible authorized testing.

Mitigation direction

  • Confirm Amazon's current Alexa skill review and suppression guidance applies to your environment.
  • Remove unfamiliar or unnecessary Alexa skills from managed Echo devices.
  • Review internally developed Alexa skills for silent reprompt or broad wildcard logging behavior.
  • Monitor vendor advisories for any updated Alexa platform remediation guidance.

Validation and detection

  • Inventory Echo devices and enabled custom Alexa skills in managed environments.
  • Check whether any organization-developed Alexa skills existed before 2018-04-27.
  • Review Alexa skill logs for unexpected transcript capture or broad wildcard slot use.
  • Document reliance on Amazon's stated platform mitigations for current risk acceptance.
Prepared
Confidence
medium
Sources
6

Public sources used

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Potential ATT&CK relevance

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
Unknown
CVSS
Not scored
Known Exploited
No
Published
Official CVE source material

CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5

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0CVSS vectors
0Timeline events
0ADP providers
5Source links

CVSS and timeline data

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Source materials

Affected products

Products and packages named in the record

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n/an/an/aListed
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CWE details

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