Overview
The vulnerability, CVE-2025-54860, is a critical flaw that affects the Cognex In-Sight Explorer and In-Sight Camera Firmware. The vulnerability can allow potential attackers to perform a Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack on the system. This vulnerability is significant as it leaves the telnet service in an unreachable state, potentially leading to system compromise or data leakage.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-54860
Severity: High, CVSS Score: 7.7
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Impact: Denial of service, potential system compromise, and data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
Cognex In-Sight Explorer | All prior versions
Cognex In-Sight Camera Firmware | All prior versions
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability exists due to improper management of login failures on a telnet-based service on port 23. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by repeatedly attempting to authenticate to the telnet service. After a certain number of failed attempts, the telnet service enters an unreachable state, effectively causing a Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack. This vulnerability could potentially lead to unauthorized access or data leakage.
Conceptual Example Code
A conceptual example of this exploit may involve the use of a script that repeatedly attempts to authenticate to the telnet service on the target device. The script might look something like this:
#!/bin/bash
HOST='targetdevice'
USER='admin'
PASS='wrongpassword'
for i in {1..1000}
do
echo "Attempt: $i"
telnet $HOST 23 << EOF
user $USER $PASS
quit
EOF
doneThis script repeatedly sends incorrect login attempts to the telnet service, triggering the vulnerability and causing the service to become unreachable.
Mitigation Guidance
The best course of action to mitigate this vulnerability is to apply the vendor patch when it becomes available. In the meantime, a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can be used as a temporary mitigation. These tools can help detect and prevent unauthorized access attempts to the telnet service.
