CVE-2025-44958 in Virtual SmartZone
Summary
by MITRE • 08/04/2025
RUCKUS Network Director (RND) before 4.5 stores passwords in a recoverable format.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/24/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-44958 affects RUCKUS Network Director versions prior to 4.5, representing a critical weakness in password storage practices that directly impacts network security infrastructure. This issue stems from the improper handling of authentication credentials within the network management system, where passwords are stored in a format that can be easily recovered and decoded by unauthorized parties. The flaw exists in the credential management subsystem of the network director software, which is responsible for maintaining administrative access controls for wireless network infrastructure components.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves the use of reversible encryption or plain text storage mechanisms for administrative passwords within the RUCKUS Network Director database or configuration files. This approach violates fundamental security principles outlined in the OWASP Top Ten and CWE-312, which specifically address the improper handling of sensitive data including passwords and authentication credentials. The vulnerability allows attackers with access to the system to extract stored credentials and gain unauthorized administrative access to the managed network infrastructure. This weakness creates a persistent backdoor that can be exploited across multiple network components without requiring additional attack vectors.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple credential theft, as it enables attackers to assume full administrative control over wireless network infrastructure managed by RUCKUS Network Director. Network administrators who rely on this system for managing access points, controllers, and wireless policies face significant risk of unauthorized network access, data exfiltration, and potential network disruption. The vulnerability affects organizations that have not yet upgraded to version 4.5 or later, leaving them exposed to attacks that could compromise their entire wireless network ecosystem. This weakness particularly impacts enterprise environments where network directors manage large-scale deployments of wireless access points and controllers.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigation strategies including upgrading to RUCKUS Network Director version 4.5 or later, which addresses this vulnerability through proper password encryption mechanisms. System administrators should also conduct thorough credential rotation exercises for all administrative accounts managed by the affected system, ensuring that any compromised credentials are invalidated immediately. Network segmentation and access control measures should be enhanced to limit the blast radius of potential credential compromise, while implementing monitoring solutions to detect unauthorized access attempts. The remediation process should include comprehensive security assessments of all network management systems to identify similar vulnerabilities in related infrastructure components, as this weakness aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566 which covers credential harvesting through various attack vectors including system compromise and credential dumping operations.