How to Protect Your Moxa Cellular Routers and Network Security Appliances from CVE-2024-9138 and CVE-2024-9140 Privilege Escalation and Command Injection Vulnerabilities?

Moxa has disclosed two critical vulnerabilities affecting its cellular routers, secure routers, and network security appliances that require immediate attention from administrators and security professionals. The vulnerabilities, tracked as CVE-2024-9138 and CVE-2024-9140, pose significant security risks that could potentially compromise system integrity and operational security.

The vulnerability is a high-severity vulnerability involving hard-coded credentials that could allow an authenticated user to escalate privileges and gain root-level access to the system. The vulnerability has been assigned a CVSS 4.0 score of 8.6, indicating a high potential for exploitation. Simultaneously, CVE-2024-9140 is a critical vulnerability enabling OS command injection through improperly restricted commands, with a CVSS 4.0 score of 9.3, which could allow attackers to execute arbitrary code. In this comprehensive guide, we will explore the technical details of these vulnerabilities, their potential impacts, affected product lines, and recommended mitigation strategies to protect your network infrastructure.

Introduction to Moxa's Network Security Appliances

Moxa's Network Security Appliances represent a robust and sophisticated range of industrial networking solutions designed to deliver reliable connectivity and advanced security for critical infrastructure and industrial environments. These high-performance devices are engineered to meet the demanding requirements of sectors such as transportation, energy, manufacturing, and utilities.

The product line encompasses cellular routers, secure routers, and network security appliances that provide seamless communication, remote management, and comprehensive protection for industrial networks. These devices feature advanced encryption, secure VPN capabilities, multiple connectivity options, and industrial-grade durability that can withstand harsh operating conditions. Moxa's solutions are characterized by their reliability, resilience, and ability to ensure continuous network operations while maintaining stringent security protocols essential for mission-critical applications across diverse industrial settings.

Summary of CVE-2024-9138 and CVE-2024-9140

CVE ID: CVE-2024-9138

CVE-2024-9138 is a critical security vulnerability that allows authenticated users to exploit hard-coded credentials and escalate privileges to gain root-level access to the system. The vulnerability stems from improper credential management, where predefined authentication tokens are embedded directly into the device's firmware.

An attacker with initial authenticated access can leverage these hard-coded credentials to bypass standard authentication mechanisms and obtain elevated system privileges. This exploitation could potentially lead to complete system compromise, allowing unauthorized modifications, data exposure, and service disruption across the affected network infrastructure.

CVE ID: CVE-2024-9140

CVE-2024-9140 is a critical vulnerability that enables remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands by exploiting inadequate input validation mechanisms. The vulnerability allows malicious actors to inject special characters and bypass input restrictions, potentially executing unauthorized system commands with full system privileges.

The root cause of this vulnerability lies in insufficient input sanitization within the device's command processing infrastructure. By crafting specially designed input sequences, attackers can manipulate the system's command execution environment, potentially gaining complete control over the affected network security appliances.

These vulnerabilities collectively represent a significant security risk for organizations utilizing Moxa cellular routers, secure routers, and network security appliances, emphasizing the critical need for immediate mitigation and firmware updates.

Affected Products

The following table outlines the Moxa network security appliances affected by CVE-2024-9138 and CVE-2024-9140:

Non-Vulnerable Products

The following Moxa products are confirmed to be unaffected by these vulnerabilities:

Important Notes

How to Check Your Moxa's Network Security Appliances Is Vulnerable to CVE-2024-9138 and CVE-2024-9140?

How to Check Section

Identifying whether your Moxa network security appliances are vulnerable to CVE-2024-9138 and CVE-2024-9140 requires a systematic approach. Here are comprehensive methods to verify potential vulnerability:

1. Firmware Version Check

The most direct method to determine vulnerability is by checking the device's firmware version:

2. Command Line Interface (CLI) Verification

For devices with CLI access:

# Run these commands to retrieve firmware information
show version
get system firmware
display system-info

Look for the firmware version in the command output and cross-reference with the vulnerable versions list.

3. Network Device Discovery Script

Use the following Python script to scan and identify potentially vulnerable Moxa devices on your network:

import nmap

def scan_moxa_devices(network_range):
    nm = nmap.PortScanner()
    nm.scan(hosts=network_range, arguments='-sV')

    vulnerable_devices = []
    for host in nm.all_hosts():
        for proto in nm[host].all_protocols():
            ports = nm[host][proto].keys()
            for port in ports:
                service = nm[host][proto][port]
                if 'product' in service and 'Moxa' in service['product']:
                    version = service.get('version', 'Unknown')
                    vulnerable_devices.append({
                        'ip': host,
                        'product': service['product'],
                        'version': version
                    })

    return vulnerable_devices

# Example usage
network_range = '192.168.1.0/24'
vulnerable_devices = scan_moxa_devices(network_range)
print("Potentially Vulnerable Devices:")
for device in vulnerable_devices:
    print(f"IP: {device['ip']}, Product: {device['product']}, Version: {device['version']}")

4. Vulnerability Scanning Tools

Utilize specialized vulnerability scanning tools:

Ensure these tools are updated with the latest vulnerability signatures for CVE-2024-9138 and CVE-2024-9140.

5. Manual Network Inspection

Recommended Actions

If you identify vulnerable devices:

Warning Signs

Potential indicators of exploitation:

Documentation

Maintain a comprehensive record of:

By systematically applying these verification methods, organizations can effectively identify and address potential vulnerabilities in their Moxa network security appliances.

How to Fix CVE-2024-9138 and CVE-2024-9140?

Moxa has developed comprehensive solutions to address these critical vulnerabilities. The recommended approach involves a multi-layered mitigation strategy focusing on firmware updates, access controls, and network segmentation.

Official Patch Availability

For most affected product series, Moxa recommends immediate firmware upgrades:

Firmware Update Steps

2. Backup Current Configuration

3. Perform Firmware Update

4. Verify Firmware Installation

Workarounds for Products Without Direct Patches

NAT-102 Series

For devices without official patches:

2. Access Control Implementation

OnCell G4302-LTE4 and TN-4900 Series

Recommended Mitigation Techniques

2. Enhanced Authentication

3. Monitoring and Logging

4. Intrusion Detection

Temporary Mitigation Checklist

Technical Support and Resources

Important Recommendations

Immediate action is crucial to mitigate potential security risks. Organizations should:

By following these comprehensive remediation strategies, organizations can effectively protect their network infrastructure from the risks posed by CVE-2024-9138 and CVE-2024-9140.

We hope this post helps explore the details of CVE-2024-9138 and CVE-2024-9140, its summary, potential impact, and affected version, and provide guidance on how to protect your Moxa's Network Security Appliances from the flaw. Thanks for reading this post. Please share this post and help secure the digital world.Visit our website thesecmaster.com, and our social media page on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Telegram, Tumblr, Medium, and Instagram and subscribe to receive updates like this.

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