{"id":"CVE-2026-118603","kind":"vulnerability","aliases":["CVE-2026-118603"],"related":[],"title":"Alpine iLX-F511 car stereo: vCard parsing overflow lets attacker run code as root","description":"Alpine iLX-F511 vCard Parsing Stack-based Buffer Overflow Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows network-adjacent attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected Alpine iLX-F511 devices. User interaction is required to exploit this vulnerability in that the target must connect to a malicious Bluetooth device.\n\nThe specific flaw exists within the parsing of vCard data. The issue results from the lack of proper validation of user-supplied data prior to copying it to a fixed-length stack-based buffer. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code in the context of root. Was ZDI-CAN-29017.","summary":"A stack-based buffer overflow in how the Alpine iLX-F511 head unit parses vCard data lets an attacker run arbitrary code with root privileges. The attack needs the head unit to connect to a malicious Bluetooth device, which is a user action.","severity":"high","cvss":8.0,"epss":null,"exploited":false,"exploited_at":null,"products":[],"ecosystems":[],"tags":["alpine","automotive","bluetooth","embedded","ilx-f511","infrastructure"],"not_affected_if":["bluetooth-disabled","no-alpine-ilx-f511"],"how_to_check":"- Check the head unit's firmware version against the vendor's advisory (unknown in the sources)\n- Check whether the device is an Alpine iLX-F511 unit (unknown in the sources)","fix":"- Update the iLX-F511 firmware to a fixed version (unknown in the sources)\n- Avoid pairing with unknown Bluetooth devices until a fix is installed","status":"open","published_at":"2026-10-28T17:18:27+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-10-28T17:34:09+00:00","triaged_at":"2026-10-28T17:34:26+00:00","updated_at":"2026-10-28T17:34:26+00:00","category":"infrastructure","confidence":0.6,"triage":{"at":"2026-10-28T17:34:26Z","model":"claude-haiku-5-5","output":{"fix":"- Update the iLX-F511 firmware to a fixed version (unknown in the sources)\n- Avoid pairing with unknown Bluetooth devices until a fix is installed","reach":"network","title":"Alpine iLX-F511 car stereo: vCard parsing overflow lets attacker run code as root","impact":"high","summary":"A stack-based buffer overflow in how the Alpine iLX-F511 head unit parses vCard data lets an attacker run arbitrary code with root privileges. The attack needs the head unit to connect to a malicious Bluetooth device, which is a user action.","category":"infrastructure","nicknames":[],"who_cares":["alpine","ilx-f511","automotive","bluetooth","embedded"],"confidence":0.6,"needs_auth":"no","worst_case":"Attacker runs arbitrary code as root on the head unit","analyst_note":"Check the Alpine vendor advisory and ZDI-CAN-29017 for affected firmware versions and the fixed release; the NVD entry gives neither.","how_to_check":"- Check the head unit's firmware version against the vendor's advisory (unknown in the sources)\n- Check whether the device is an Alpine iLX-F511 unit (unknown in the sources)","needs_analyst":true,"not_affected_if":["no-alpine-ilx-f511","bluetooth-disabled"],"who_is_affected":"Owners of Alpine iLX-F511 head units are affected when the unit processes vCard data from a Bluetooth device. Fleet or product teams that ship or support this hardware should look at it; teams with no Alpine iLX-F511 units can skip it.","user_interaction":"yes","needs_special_setup":"unknown","severity_if_unknown":"high"},"cost_usd":0.000645,"input_tokens":3448,"output_tokens":601,"severity_before":"high"},"analyst_status":null,"analyst_note":null,"search":"'-118603':18A,21A '-2026':17A,20A '29017':182C 'action':74B 'adjac':95C 'affect':102C 'allow':92C 'alpin':1A,22B,39B,75C,103C 'arbitrari':52B,99C 'attack':11A,50B,58B,96C,165C 'automot':23B 'base':33B,83C,162C 'bluetooth':24B,68B,125C 'buffer':34B,84C,163C 'car':5A 'code':13A,53B,87C,100C,172C 'connect':64B,121C 'context':175C 'copi':153C 'cve':16A,19A 'data':47B,136C,150C 'devic':69B,107C,126C 'embed':25B 'execut':88C,98C,171C 'exist':130C 'exploit':113C 'f511':4A,28B,42B,78C,106C 'fix':158C 'fixed-length':157C 'flaw':129C 'head':43B,61B 'ilx':3A,27B,41B,77C,105C 'ilx-f511':2A,26B,40B,76C,104C 'infrastructur':29B 'interact':109C 'issu':138C 'lack':142C 'length':159C 'let':10A,48B 'leverag':167C 'malici':67B,124C 'must':120C 'need':59B 'network':94C 'network-adjac':93C 'overflow':9A,35B,85C 'pars':8A,45B,80C,133C 'prior':151C 'privileg':56B 'proper':144C 'remot':86C 'requir':111C 'result':139C 'root':15A,55B,177C 'run':12A,51B 'specif':128C 'stack':32B,82C,161C 'stack-bas':31B,81C,160C 'stereo':6A 'suppli':149C 'target':119C 'unit':44B,62B 'user':73B,108C,148C 'user-suppli':147C 'valid':145C 'vcard':7A,46B,79C,135C 'vulner':89C,91C,115C,169C 'within':131C 'zdi':180C 'zdi-can':179C","nicknames":[],"mitigations":[],"who_affected":"Owners of Alpine iLX-F511 head units are affected when the unit processes vCard data from a Bluetooth device. Fleet or product teams that ship or support this hardware should look at it; teams with no Alpine iLX-F511 units can skip it.","tier":"B","verified":{},"analyst_revisit_at":null,"first_public_at":"2026-10-28T17:18:27+00:00","kev":null,"cvss_vector":"CVSS:3.0/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","cvss_by":"zdi-disclosures@trendmicro.com","poc_count":0,"sources":[{"source":"nvd","external_id":"CVE-2026-118603","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-118603","severity":null,"published_at":"2026-10-28T17:18:27+00:00","modified_at":"2026-10-28T17:18:27+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-10-28T17:34:09+00:00","fetched_at":"2026-10-28T17:34:09+00:00","note":null}],"documents":[],"notice":"Free to read at a human pace. An API with keys and an MCP server are in preparation; early access: hello@infrastack.ai"}