CVE-2024-49563: Improper Neutralization Exploit in Dell Unity Leads to Privilege Escalation

Overview

Vulnerability CVE-2024-49563 is an alarming weakness found in Dell Unity, versions 5.4 and prior. This vulnerability could potentially affect thousands of corporate and individual users globally as Dell Unity is one of the widely used storage solutions. The vulnerability, if exploited, allows a low privileged attacker with local access to execute arbitrary operating system commands with root privileges. This could potentially lead to a system compromise or data leakage, raising significant concern for information security professionals and users alike.

Vulnerability Summary

CVE ID: CVE-2024-49563
Severity: High (7.8 CVSS Score)
Attack Vector: Local
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: No
Impact: Execution of arbitrary OS commands with root privileges, potential system compromise or data leakage

Affected Products

Product | Affected Versions

Dell Unity | 5.4 and prior

How the Exploit Works

The vulnerability resides in the improper neutralization of special elements used in an OS command. It’s commonly referred to as ‘OS Command Injection’. In this case, the Dell Unity system fails to adequately sanitize user-supplied input. An attacker with low privileges and local access could inject specially crafted commands that are executed with root privileges. This could allow the attacker to manipulate the system, potentially leading to unauthorized access, information disclosure, or even full system compromise.

Conceptual Example Code

Here is a conceptual example demonstrating how an attacker might exploit this vulnerability:

# Attacker logs in with low privilege
$ ssh low_privilege_user@target.system.com
# Attacker injects malicious command
$ echo "'; rm -rf / ; echo '" > /path/to/vulnerable/input/file

In this example, a low-privileged user logs into the vulnerable system and injects a malicious command. This command, when executed, will delete all the files in the system, illustrating the potential severity of this vulnerability.

Mitigation

Dell has acknowledged the vulnerability and advises users to apply the vendor patch immediately to mitigate the risk. Until the patch can be applied, users are recommended to use Web Application Firewalls (WAF) or Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) as temporary mitigation. Further, users should limit the system access to trusted individuals and ensure that least privilege principles are applied. It is also recommended to monitor system logs for unusual activity and have an incident response plan in place.