CVE-2025-44955 in Virtual SmartZone
Summary
by MITRE • 08/04/2025
RUCKUS Network Director (RND) before 4.5 allows jailed users to obtain root access vis a weak, hardcoded password.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/24/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-44955 affects RUCKUS Network Director (RND) versions prior to 4.5 and represents a critical privilege escalation flaw that undermines the security model of the network management platform. This issue stems from a hardcoded password mechanism that persists across system versions, allowing unauthorized users to gain elevated privileges through a predictable authentication vector. The vulnerability specifically impacts the jail user environment where legitimate administrative access should be restricted to prevent unauthorized system manipulation.
The technical implementation of this flaw involves a hardcoded password mechanism within the RUCKUS Network Director software that remains unchanged across versions, creating a persistent backdoor for malicious actors. This hardcoded credential allows authenticated users to escalate their privileges from standard user level to root access without proper authentication controls. The vulnerability exists in the privilege management system where the software fails to properly enforce access controls and instead relies on a static credential that has been documented and potentially leaked through various channels. This weakness directly violates fundamental security principles of credential management and privilege separation.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe as it enables attackers to gain complete control over the network director system, potentially leading to unauthorized network access, configuration changes, and data exfiltration. An attacker exploiting this vulnerability can perform actions such as modifying network configurations, accessing sensitive operational data, disabling security features, and establishing persistent access points within the network infrastructure. The weakness creates a persistent threat vector that can be exploited by both internal and external attackers, making it particularly dangerous for enterprise network management systems that rely on RUCKUS Network Director for centralized control.
Organizations utilizing RUCKUS Network Director versions before 4.5 should immediately implement the vendor-provided patch or upgrade to version 4.5 or later to remediate this vulnerability. The patch addresses the hardcoded password issue by implementing proper credential management and privilege escalation controls that prevent unauthorized access to root privileges. Additional mitigations include implementing network segmentation to isolate the network director system, monitoring authentication logs for suspicious access patterns, and conducting regular security assessments of network management infrastructure. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-798 which addresses the use of hard-coded credentials, and represents a technique that attackers could leverage through the ATT&CK framework under privilege escalation tactics, specifically targeting credential access and persistence mechanisms within network infrastructure management systems.