CVE-2018-16144 in Monitor
Summary
by MITRE
The test connection functionality in the NetAudit section of Opsview Monitor before 5.3.1 and 5.4.x before 5.4.2 is vulnerable to command injection due to improper sanitization of the rancid_password parameter.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/20/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-16144 resides within the NetAudit section of Opsview Monitor, a comprehensive network monitoring solution widely deployed in enterprise environments. This critical security flaw affects versions prior to 5.3.1 and 5.4.x before 5.4.2, representing a significant risk to organizations relying on this monitoring platform for network infrastructure management. The vulnerability specifically targets the test connection functionality, which is designed to validate network connectivity and configuration settings within the monitoring environment.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input sanitization mechanisms within the rancid_password parameter processing. This parameter is utilized during the test connection process to establish network connectivity with remote devices through the RANCID (Really Awesome New Cisco IOS Digger) framework. The improper sanitization allows malicious actors to inject arbitrary commands that bypass normal input validation controls. This occurs because the application fails to properly escape or filter special characters that could be interpreted as command delimiters or execution operators by the underlying operating system.
The operational impact of this command injection vulnerability is severe and multifaceted. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability could execute arbitrary commands on the Opsview Monitor server with the privileges of the running service account. This could potentially lead to complete system compromise, data exfiltration, or the ability to manipulate network monitoring configurations to hide malicious activities. The vulnerability particularly affects environments where Opsview Monitor is used to manage critical network infrastructure, as it provides a direct path for attackers to gain elevated privileges within the monitoring ecosystem. The attack vector is particularly concerning because it requires minimal privileges to exploit, as the test connection functionality is typically accessible to users with basic monitoring permissions.
This vulnerability aligns with CWE-77 and CWE-94, which respectively address command injection and code injection weaknesses in software applications. The issue demonstrates poor input validation practices and highlights the importance of proper sanitization of user-supplied data before processing. From an adversarial perspective, this vulnerability maps to multiple ATT&CK techniques including T1059.001 (Command and Scripting Interpreter: PowerShell) and T1068 (Exploitation for Privilege Escalation), as attackers could leverage this flaw to execute commands and escalate their access within the monitored network environment.
Organizations should immediately implement mitigations including upgrading to Opsview Monitor versions 5.3.1 or 5.4.2, which contain the necessary patches to address the input sanitization issues. Additional defensive measures include restricting access to the NetAudit section to trusted administrative users only, implementing network segmentation to limit exposure, and monitoring for suspicious command execution patterns within the monitoring environment. Security teams should also conduct thorough vulnerability assessments of their monitoring infrastructure to identify similar input validation issues in other components that might be susceptible to command injection attacks.