Cisco’s Talos research and intelligence group on Thursday disclosed the details of nearly a dozen vulnerabilities uncovered in Sierra Wireless AirLink devices, including serious flaws that can be exploited to change system settings, execute arbitrary code, and modify passwords.
The security holes impact several Sierra Wireless AirLink gateways and routers, which are typically used by enterprises to connect industrial equipment, point-of-sale (PoS) systems, cameras, smart devices, sensors, and various types of business-critical devices.
Talos identified the flaws in AirLink ES450 LTE enterprise gateways running firmware version 4.9.3. However, the vendor has confirmed that some of the weaknesses also impact GX400, GX450 and LS300 rugged cellular gateways; MP70 vehicle routers; RV50/RV50X industrial gateways; and LX40/60X compact routers for IoT and M2M applications.
A majority of the flaws uncovered by Talos exist in ACEManager, the web server component present in these devices.
Three of the security holes have been classified as “critical” with a CVSS score of 9.9. They can be exploited by an attacker to make changes to any system settings and execute arbitrary commands and code. The vulnerabilities can be exploited by an authenticated attacker by sending specially crafted HTTP requests to the targeted device.
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Three of the flaws have been rated “high severity.” These allow an authenticated attacker to change the user password and obtain plaintext passwords and other sensitive information. One of these issues, the only one that is not related to the ACEManager web server, impacts the SNMPD component and it can be exploited to activate hardcoded credentials on a device.
The rest of the vulnerabilities have been classified as “medium severity” and they include cross-site scripting (XSS), cross-site request forgery (CSRF), and information disclosure issues.
Talos said it had worked with Sierra Wireless to ensure that patches are developed, but the vendor has yet to release a public advisory for these flaws so it’s unclear which firmware updates address them.
Related: Unpatched Flaws Plague Sierra Wireless Industrial Gateways
Related: Sierra Wireless Rugged Gateways Targeted by Mirai Malware
Eduard Kovacs (@EduardKovacs) is a contributing editor at SecurityWeek. He worked as a high school IT teacher for two years before starting a career in journalism as Softpedia’s security news reporter. Eduard holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial informatics and a master’s degree in computer techniques applied in electrical engineering.
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