Overview
A critical vulnerability has been identified in NETGEAR’s RAX5 (AX1600 WiFi Router) with firmware version V1.0.2.26. This vulnerability, assigned the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) identifier CVE-2024-57232, could potentially allow an attacker to compromise the entire system or leak sensitive data. Given the widespread use of NETGEAR routers across households and businesses, this vulnerability represents a significant security risk that could be exploited to gain unauthorized control over private networks.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2024-57232
Severity: Critical (CVSS score: 9.8)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: Potential system compromise or data leakage
Affected Products
No phone number, email, or personal info required.
Product | Affected Versions
NETGEAR RAX5 (AX1600 WiFi Router) | V1.0.2.26
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability arises from a command injection flaw in the ‘apcli_wps_gen_pincode’ function of the device’s firmware. This function is designed to generate a WPS pin code, but it improperly sanitizes the ‘ifname’ parameter. An attacker can exploit this flaw by sending a crafted request containing malicious commands in the ‘ifname’ parameter. As the function does not properly validate this parameter, the injected commands could be executed with root privileges, leading to a complete system compromise.
Conceptual Example Code
Below is a conceptual example demonstrating how this vulnerability might be exploited. This example uses a HTTP POST request to send a malicious command in the ‘ifname’ parameter.
POST /apcli_wps_gen_pincode HTTP/1.1
Host: target_router_ip
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
ifname=`;reboot;`In this example, the command ‘reboot’ is injected into the ifname parameter. If the request is processed by the vulnerable router, the system would then execute the injected command, causing an immediate reboot of the device. This is a simplistic example; in reality, an attacker could inject far more destructive or malicious commands.
Mitigation
Users of the affected product are urged to update their firmware to the latest version as soon as possible. If a patch is not immediately available, users can use a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) as a temporary mitigation measure. These can help detect and block malicious requests targeting the vulnerable function. However, these measures should be seen only as stopgaps until a permanent fix is available from the vendor.