CVE-2018-8869 in IDS 2102
Summary
by MITRE
In Lantech IDS 2102 2.0 and prior, nearly all input fields allow for arbitrary input on the device. A CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 has been calculated; the CVSS vector string is (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/02/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-8869 affects Lantech IDS 2102 2.0 and earlier versions, representing a critical security flaw in network intrusion detection systems. This device operates within cybersecurity infrastructure as a monitoring tool designed to detect and alert on network intrusions, making its security paramount to overall network defense. The vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation mechanisms across nearly all user-facing fields within the device's web interface and configuration parameters. The CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 indicates an extremely high severity level, reflecting the potential for complete system compromise and the absence of any required privileges for exploitation. The CVSS vector string AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H translates to network access, low complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction needed, unscoped impact, high confidentiality, high integrity, and high availability impact, highlighting the broad attack surface and devastating potential consequences.
The technical flaw manifests through inadequate sanitization and validation of user inputs, allowing attackers to inject malicious data into various system parameters through web forms, configuration settings, or API endpoints. This lack of input filtering creates multiple pathways for exploitation including command injection, cross-site scripting, and potentially remote code execution depending on the specific implementation details. The vulnerability affects nearly all input fields, suggesting a systemic issue in the application's security architecture rather than isolated flaws, which amplifies the risk significantly. Attackers can leverage this weakness to manipulate system behavior, extract sensitive information, modify configurations, or potentially gain full administrative control over the device. The absence of proper input validation creates an environment where malformed or malicious input can directly influence the system's execution flow, bypassing intended security controls and access restrictions.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond immediate device compromise to potentially undermine entire network security infrastructures that rely on the device for monitoring and protection. Organizations using affected Lantech IDS 2102 devices face substantial risk of unauthorized access to their network monitoring capabilities, which could enable attackers to evade detection while conducting reconnaissance or launching further attacks. The high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact scores indicate that successful exploitation could result in complete data breaches, system corruption, or denial of service conditions that would severely impact network security operations. Network administrators could lose visibility into their network activities, making it difficult to detect and respond to actual security incidents. The vulnerability's widespread nature across input fields means that even minor configuration changes or routine management tasks could be exploited, creating numerous potential attack vectors for threat actors.
Organizations should immediately implement mitigations including firmware updates from Lantech to address the input validation flaws, network segmentation to limit access to affected devices, and enhanced monitoring for suspicious activities. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-20, which describes "Improper Input Validation" as a fundamental weakness in software security design, and may map to ATT&CK techniques such as T1059 for command execution and T1071 for application layer protocol usage. Additional defensive measures include implementing web application firewalls, restricting administrative access to the device, and conducting thorough vulnerability assessments of the network infrastructure. Given the high severity score and the critical nature of intrusion detection systems, organizations should treat this vulnerability as a priority for immediate remediation and consider conducting comprehensive security audits of their entire network monitoring infrastructure to identify similar weaknesses in other devices and systems.