CVE-2019-17667 in H8 Heights Remote Gateway
Summary
by MITRE
Comtech H8 Heights Remote Gateway 2.5.1 devices allow XSS and HTML injection via the Site Name (aka SiteName) field.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/02/2026
The Comtech H8 Heights Remote Gateway 2.5.1 represents a network infrastructure device commonly deployed in industrial and enterprise environments for remote communications and monitoring purposes. This particular device model contains a critical vulnerability in its web-based administrative interface that affects how it processes user input through the Site Name parameter. The vulnerability manifests as a cross-site scripting flaw that allows remote attackers to inject malicious HTML content into the device's configuration interface, potentially compromising the security of the entire communication network. This issue specifically impacts the Site Name field, which serves as a configurable identifier for the gateway location within the network management system.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through improper input validation and output encoding within the web interface components of the device. When administrators or authorized users navigate to the configuration pages where the Site Name field is rendered, the device fails to properly sanitize or escape user-supplied input before displaying it in the browser context. This creates an environment where malicious actors can craft specially formatted input containing script tags or other HTML elements that execute when the page loads. The vulnerability follows the CWE-79 pattern for cross-site scripting, specifically categorized under CWE-79-2009 which addresses cross-site scripting in web applications, and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1059.007 for command and script injection targeting web applications. The flaw exists because the device does not implement proper context-aware output encoding, allowing malicious payloads to be interpreted as executable code rather than plain text.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data corruption or display issues, as it provides attackers with potential access to the administrative interface of the remote gateway. An attacker who successfully injects malicious content could potentially redirect users to phishing sites, steal session cookies, or execute arbitrary code within the browser context of authenticated users. This could lead to complete compromise of the device configuration, enabling unauthorized modifications to network settings, access credentials, or communication parameters. The vulnerability particularly threatens industrial control systems and critical infrastructure environments where these gateways serve as essential communication nodes, as it could enable attackers to disrupt operations or gain unauthorized access to sensitive network segments. The attack surface is further expanded because many of these devices are deployed in environments with limited network monitoring, making detection of such attacks more challenging.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should include immediate implementation of firmware updates from Comtech or the device manufacturer, as this represents a known issue that has been addressed in subsequent releases. Network administrators should also implement additional layers of security such as web application firewalls to filter malicious requests before they reach the device interface, and conduct thorough input validation on all user-facing parameters. The principle of least privilege should be enforced by limiting administrative access to the device through network segmentation and authentication controls, while regular security assessments should be performed to identify similar vulnerabilities in other network infrastructure components. Organizations should also consider implementing monitoring solutions that can detect anomalous behavior in web interface traffic and establish incident response procedures specifically for dealing with web-based attacks on industrial control systems. The vulnerability highlights the importance of secure coding practices and input validation in network infrastructure devices, particularly those that are exposed to potentially untrusted network environments.