Lattice basis reduction is a common and perhaps the most practical method today to solve the approximate shortest vector problem. It is important to estimate the length of the short vectors output by lattice basis reduction. However, accurate estimation is difficult to obtain, and people often rely on empirical heuristics. Based on the asymptotic behavior of the lengths of the short vectors, there is a well-known sublattice attack if the determinant of the lattice is relatively small. Here we provide detailed exposition of the cause of the sublattice attack and verify with experimentation on Goldstein-Mayer lattices.