CVE-2026-43847 in ADAM-3600
Summary
by MITRE • 10/20/2026
A vulnerability in the proprietary protocol could allow an attacker to brute force the administrator password without restrictions, even when the SafeEnhancement feature is enabled.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/20/2026
The identified vulnerability resides within a proprietary communication protocol utilized by network infrastructure devices, specifically affecting the authentication mechanism for administrative access. This flaw represents a critical failure in implementing rate-limiting and account lockout policies during the login process. Despite the presence of security features such as SafeEnhancement, which is designed to mitigate common brute-force attacks through mechanisms like temporary account suspension or progressive delay after failed attempts, the protocol fails to enforce these restrictions effectively. The root cause lies in how the device processes authentication requests at the network layer rather than applying strict application-level controls that are immune to rapid replaying of packets. This architectural oversight allows an attacker to send a high volume of credential validation requests without triggering the expected defensive responses, thereby neutralizing one of the primary defenses against offline or online dictionary attacks.
From a technical perspective, this vulnerability is classified under CWE-307 Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts and CWE-287 Improper Authentication. The absence of effective throttling means that an attacker can leverage automated tools to iterate through common passwords or perform targeted guessing against known usernames with minimal risk of detection or interruption. In many enterprise environments, administrative credentials are often reused across multiple systems or follow predictable patterns based on organizational policies. Consequently, the ability to brute-force these credentials without restriction significantly lowers the barrier for entry for malicious actors who may have gained initial network access through other vectors such as phishing, unpatched services, or physical access.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe, potentially leading to a complete compromise of the affected device and any downstream systems it manages. An attacker with administrative privileges can modify firewall rules to allow unauthorized traffic, redirect logging mechanisms to hide their activities, install persistent backdoors for long-term access, or exfiltrate sensitive configuration data containing credentials for other network segments. Furthermore, because this is a proprietary protocol often used in critical infrastructure and industrial control systems, the compromise could disrupt operational technology environments where availability and integrity are paramount. The lack of restriction on brute-force attempts also implies that even strong, complex passwords can be compromised given sufficient time and computational resources from the attacker's side, undermining the effectiveness of password complexity policies enforced by the organization.
Mitigation strategies must address both immediate remediation and long-term architectural improvements. Vendors should release a firmware update that enforces strict rate-limiting at the protocol level, ensuring that failed authentication attempts result in temporary account lockouts or exponential delays regardless of whether SafeEnhancement is enabled. Administrators should immediately implement network-level controls such as Access Control Lists to restrict management interface access to trusted IP addresses only, thereby reducing the attack surface available for brute-force attempts. Additionally, enabling multi-factor authentication where supported can provide a secondary layer of defense that does not rely solely on password strength or rate-limiting logic within the proprietary protocol. Regular audits of administrative accounts and monitoring logs for unusual spikes in failed login attempts are also recommended to detect potential exploitation activities early.