CVE-2017-16770 in Surveillance Station Pro
Summary
by MITRE
File and directory information exposure vulnerability in SYNO.SurveillanceStation.PersonalSettings.Photo in Synology Surveillance Station before 8.1.2-5469 allows remote authenticated users to obtain other user's sensitive files via the filename parameter.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/16/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-16770 represents a critical information disclosure flaw within Synology Surveillance Station's Personal Settings Photo module. This vulnerability affects versions prior to 8.1.2-5469 and demonstrates a classic path traversal or directory traversal issue that enables authenticated attackers to access sensitive files beyond their intended scope. The flaw specifically manifests through the filename parameter handling within the SYNO.SurveillanceStation.PersonalSettings.Photo endpoint, creating an unauthorized access vector that compromises user privacy and data confidentiality.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and access control mechanisms within the Surveillance Station's photo handling functionality. When authenticated users submit requests containing crafted filename parameters, the system fails to properly sanitize or validate the input before processing file operations. This allows malicious actors to manipulate the filename parameter to navigate through the file system hierarchy and access files belonging to other users. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and leverages the fact that proper authorization checks are not enforced when processing photo-related requests, creating a privilege escalation scenario where legitimate authenticated users can exploit the system's file access controls.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability creates significant security risks for organizations relying on Synology Surveillance Station for video monitoring and data storage. The exposure of other users' sensitive files could include personal photos, video recordings, configuration files, and potentially system credentials or authentication tokens. Attackers could exploit this vulnerability to gain unauthorized access to surveillance footage, personal information, or even system administrative data, depending on the file system permissions and the nature of stored content. The remote nature of the attack means that threat actors do not require physical access to the device, making this vulnerability particularly dangerous for network-connected surveillance systems.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-22, which describes improper limitation of a pathname to a restricted directory, commonly known as path traversal or directory traversal attacks. This classification indicates that the flaw involves insufficient controls over file path manipulation, allowing attackers to access files outside the intended directory structure. Additionally, the vulnerability demonstrates characteristics of CWE-200, which deals with exposure of sensitive information, as it enables unauthorized disclosure of user data. From an adversarial perspective, this vulnerability maps to ATT&CK technique T1005, which covers data from local system, and T1074, which involves data staging through local data source access. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying the vendor-provided security patch, reviewing and tightening access controls, implementing network segmentation, and conducting comprehensive security audits of their surveillance infrastructure to prevent exploitation of this vulnerability.
The remediation approach for CVE-2017-16770 requires immediate deployment of Synology's security update version 8.1.2-5469 or later, which addresses the improper input validation and access control issues. System administrators should also implement additional security measures such as regular security patch management, network access controls, and monitoring for suspicious file access patterns. Organizations should conduct thorough vulnerability assessments of their surveillance systems to identify similar issues and establish robust security monitoring procedures to detect potential exploitation attempts. The vulnerability highlights the importance of proper input validation and access control implementation in networked storage and surveillance systems, particularly those handling sensitive personal data.