CVE-2017-6320 in Load Balancer
Summary
by MITRE
A remote command injection vulnerability exists in the Barracuda Load Balancer product line (confirmed on v5.4.0.004 (2015-11-26) and v6.0.1.006 (2016-08-19); fixed in 6.1.0.003 (2017-01-17)) in which an authenticated user can execute arbitrary shell commands and gain root privileges. The vulnerability stems from unsanitized data being processed in a system call when the delete_assessment command is issued.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/18/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-6320 represents a critical remote command injection flaw within the Barracuda Load Balancer product line, demonstrating a fundamental failure in input validation and sanitization. This security weakness affects specific versions including v5.4.0.004 from November 2015 and v6.0.1.006 from August 2016, with remediation provided in version 6.1.0.003 released in January 2017. The flaw operates through a specific command execution pathway where the delete_assessment functionality processes user-supplied data without adequate sanitization, creating an exploitable condition that allows malicious actors to inject and execute arbitrary shell commands on the affected system.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability aligns with CWE-77, which categorizes command injection flaws as weaknesses where untrusted data is directly incorporated into operating system commands without proper validation or escaping mechanisms. Attackers exploiting this vulnerability require only authenticated access to the system, significantly reducing the attack surface compared to unauthenticated exploits. The authenticated nature of the vulnerability means that an attacker must first establish credentials to access the load balancer interface, but once authenticated, they can leverage this weakness to execute arbitrary commands with the privileges of the web application user, which typically escalates to root privileges due to the nature of system management interfaces.
The operational impact of CVE-2017-6320 extends beyond simple command execution, as it fundamentally compromises the integrity and confidentiality of the load balancing infrastructure. When an attacker successfully exploits this vulnerability, they gain full control over the affected system, enabling them to modify network traffic routing, disable security features, extract sensitive configuration data, or establish persistent backdoors. The vulnerability's presence in load balancer appliances is particularly concerning because these devices typically serve as critical network infrastructure components that control traffic flow between internal networks and external services, making them prime targets for attackers seeking to establish persistent access to enterprise environments.
From a threat modeling perspective, this vulnerability maps to multiple ATT&CK techniques including T1059.001 for command and scripting interpreter and T1068 for exploit for privilege escalation. The attack chain typically begins with credential compromise or social engineering to obtain valid authentication credentials, followed by exploitation of the delete_assessment command to execute malicious payloads. Organizations should implement comprehensive network segmentation to limit access to load balancer interfaces, deploy strict access controls and monitoring for administrative functions, and ensure timely patch management for all network infrastructure components. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of secure coding practices in enterprise applications, particularly the need for robust input validation and output encoding to prevent injection attacks that can lead to complete system compromise.