Overview
Cybersecurity vulnerabilities pose a significant risk to both individuals and organizations alike. One such vulnerability, CVE-2025-33025, has been identified in a range of RUGGEDCOM ROX devices. Given the widespread use of these devices in various industries, this vulnerability could potentially affect a significant number of users worldwide. It is of paramount importance to understand how this vulnerability works, its potential impact, and how to mitigate its risks effectively.
This vulnerability is particularly critical as it allows an attacker with root privileges to manipulate the ‘traceroute’ tool in the web interface of the affected devices, which could lead to a full system compromise or unexpected data leakage.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-33025
Severity: Critical (CVSS 9.9)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: High
User Interaction: Required
Impact: Full system compromise or potential data leakage.
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
RUGGEDCOM ROX MX5000 | All versions < V2.16.5 RUGGEDCOM ROX MX5000RE | All versions < V2.16.5 RUGGEDCOM ROX RX1400 | All versions < V2.16.5 RUGGEDCOM ROX RX1500 | All versions < V2.16.5 RUGGEDCOM ROX RX1501 | All versions < V2.16.5 RUGGEDCOM ROX RX1510 | All versions < V2.16.5 RUGGEDCOM ROX RX1511 | All versions < V2.16.5 RUGGEDCOM ROX RX1512 | All versions < V2.16.5 RUGGEDCOM ROX RX1524 | All versions < V2.16.5 RUGGEDCOM ROX RX1536 | All versions < V2.16.5 RUGGEDCOM ROX RX5000 | All versions < V2.16.5 How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability lies in the ‘traceroute’ tool within the web interface of the aforementioned affected devices. Due to missing server-side input sanitation, the tool is susceptible to command injection attacks. An authenticated remote attacker can exploit this vulnerability by injecting malicious commands that could allow them to execute arbitrary code with root privileges.
Conceptual Example Code
Consider this conceptual example of how an attacker might exploit the vulnerability:
$ traceroute 8.8.8.8; rm -rf /*;In this example, the attacker is injecting a malicious command (‘rm -rf /*;’) after the legitimate ‘traceroute’ command. The injected command, when executed, would delete all files in the system, leading to a complete system compromise.
Mitigation Guidance
Users are strongly advised to apply the vendor patch to address this vulnerability. In case the patch cannot be applied immediately, temporary mitigation can be achieved through the use of a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS). Users should also consider implementing least privilege principles and strong authentication measures to minimize the potential impact of this vulnerability.