CVE-2018-7781 in Pelco Sarix Professional
Summary
by MITRE
In Schneider Electric Pelco Sarix Professional 1st generation cameras with firmware versions prior to 3.29.69, by sending a specially crafted request an authenticated user can view password in clear text and results in privilege escalation.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/25/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-7781 affects Schneider Electric Pelco Sarix Professional 1st generation network cameras operating with firmware versions earlier than 3.29.69. This represents a critical security flaw that demonstrates poor input validation and insufficient access controls within the camera's web interface authentication mechanism. The issue stems from the camera's failure to properly sanitize user input during authentication requests, creating a path for malicious actors to exploit the system's trust model and gain unauthorized access to sensitive credentials.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves the manipulation of authentication requests through specifically crafted payloads that exploit the camera's handling of user credentials. When an authenticated user sends a malicious request, the system inadvertently exposes password information in plaintext format within the response. This occurs due to inadequate output encoding and insufficient validation of input parameters that should normally be restricted or sanitized during the authentication process. The flaw operates at the application layer and leverages the camera's web services interface, making it accessible through standard network protocols.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple credential exposure, as it enables privilege escalation attacks that can compromise the entire surveillance system. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability can obtain clear text passwords for administrative accounts, potentially gaining full control over the camera's configuration settings, video feeds, and access to connected network infrastructure. This represents a significant risk to physical security systems, as the compromised credentials could be used to manipulate camera settings, disable security features, or redirect video streams to unauthorized parties. The vulnerability affects the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the security infrastructure, creating potential for both data breaches and system compromise.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate firmware updates to version 3.29.69 or later, which contain patches addressing the input validation issues and proper credential handling mechanisms. Organizations should also implement network segmentation to limit access to these devices to authorized personnel only, enforce strong authentication practices including multi-factor authentication where possible, and conduct regular security assessments of their surveillance infrastructure. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-20, which addresses improper input validation, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1078 for valid accounts and T1566 for credential harvesting through social engineering or system exploitation. Network monitoring should be enhanced to detect unusual authentication patterns and malformed requests that may indicate exploitation attempts, while access controls should be reviewed and strengthened to ensure least privilege principles are maintained throughout the security infrastructure.