CVE-2019-17059 in Cyberoam Firewall
Summary
by MITRE
A shell injection vulnerability on the Sophos Cyberoam firewall appliance with CyberoamOS before 10.6.6 MR-6 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands via the Web Admin and SSL VPN consoles.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/03/2020
The vulnerability CVE-2019-17059 represents a critical shell injection flaw discovered in Sophos Cyberoam firewall appliances running CyberoamOS versions prior to 10.6.6 MR-6. This vulnerability exists within the web administration and SSL VPN console interfaces, creating a significant attack surface that remote threat actors can exploit to gain unauthorized system access. The flaw allows attackers to inject malicious shell commands directly into the appliance's command processing mechanisms, potentially leading to complete system compromise.
This vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and sanitization within the web interface components of the CyberoamOS platform. The technical implementation fails to properly escape or filter user-supplied data before incorporating it into shell command executions, creating a classic shell injection vector. According to CWE-77, this maps directly to improper neutralization of special elements used in a command, which is a well-documented weakness in software systems that handle command execution. The vulnerability affects both the web administration console and SSL VPN interfaces, expanding the potential attack vectors and increasing the exploitability of the flaw.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and multifaceted. Remote attackers can leverage this weakness to execute arbitrary commands with the privileges of the web application or VPN service, potentially leading to complete system takeover. This allows for privilege escalation, data exfiltration, lateral movement within networks, and the establishment of persistent backdoors. The attack surface extends beyond simple command execution to include potential denial of service conditions and unauthorized access to sensitive network resources. Organizations relying on these appliances face significant risk of unauthorized access to their network infrastructure, particularly in environments where these devices serve as primary security controls.
Mitigation strategies should prioritize immediate patching of affected appliances to CyberoamOS version 10.6.6 MR-6 or later, which contains the necessary fixes for this vulnerability. Network segmentation and firewall rule restrictions should be implemented to limit access to the vulnerable web administration and SSL VPN interfaces. Additional security controls such as multi-factor authentication, regular security audits, and network monitoring should be deployed to detect potential exploitation attempts. According to ATT&CK framework, this vulnerability maps to T1059.001 for command and scripting interpreter, and T1078 for valid accounts, highlighting the need for comprehensive defensive measures. Organizations should also implement intrusion detection systems to monitor for suspicious command execution patterns and establish incident response procedures specifically addressing shell injection vulnerabilities. Regular vulnerability assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to identify similar weaknesses in the network infrastructure and ensure comprehensive protection against similar threats.