CVE-2026-73767 in AOS-CX
Summary
by MITRE • 09/02/2026
Authenticated command injection vulnerabilities exist in the command line interface of AOS-CX. Successful exploitation of these vulnerabilities results in the ability to execute arbitrary commands as a privileged user on the underlying operating system.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/02/2026
The identified vulnerability represents a critical security flaw within the Command Line Interface (CLI) of Aruba Networking's AOS-CX operating system, specifically affecting devices running versions prior to 10.13. The core technical nature of this issue is classified as an authenticated command injection weakness. Unlike unauthenticated attacks that target exposed services without credentials, this vulnerability requires valid administrative access to the device interface. However, once an attacker possesses legitimate authentication tokens or credentials, they can exploit insufficient input validation mechanisms embedded within specific CLI commands. These commands fail to properly sanitize user-supplied data before passing it to underlying system interpreters, allowing for the injection of arbitrary shell commands that are executed with the privileges of the authenticated session.
From a technical perspective, this flaw aligns closely with Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) category CWE-78, which describes improper neutralization of special elements used in an OS command, commonly known as OS Command Injection. The vulnerability likely stems from concatenating user input directly into system calls or shell scripts without adequate escaping or filtering of metacharacters such as semicolons, pipes, or ampersands. This allows a malicious actor to break out of the intended command context and execute additional commands within the same execution environment. Because the CLI is designed for high-level network configuration and management, it often operates with elevated privileges, making the impact of successful exploitation particularly severe.
The operational impact of exploiting this vulnerability extends far beyond simple service disruption or data exfiltration. Since the injected commands are executed as a privileged user on the underlying operating system, an attacker gains full control over the device's host environment. This level of access enables the installation of persistent backdoors, modification of network configurations to facilitate lateral movement within the enterprise infrastructure, and interception of sensitive traffic passing through the switch or router. In a data center or campus core scenario, compromising such a device can effectively neutralize network segmentation controls, allowing attackers to pivot freely between previously isolated subnets. This transforms a single compromised endpoint into a powerful launchpad for broader network-wide attacks, significantly escalating the risk profile from local privilege escalation to complete infrastructure compromise.
In terms of threat modeling and adversary behavior, this vulnerability maps directly to MITRE ATT&CK technique T1059, specifically Command and Scripting Interpreter sub-techniques such as sh or bash execution. An attacker leveraging this flaw would be performing initial access followed by command execution on a remote system. The ability to run arbitrary commands facilitates subsequent stages of the kill chain, including credential dumping from memory files stored on the device, persistence through cron jobs or startup scripts, and defense evasion by modifying log files to hide traces of intrusion. This makes the vulnerability not just an isolated flaw but a pivotal entry point for advanced persistent threats targeting network infrastructure.
To mitigate this risk, organizations must prioritize immediate patching of all affected AOS-CX devices to versions 10.13 or later where these input validation issues have been resolved by Aruba Networking. In environments where immediate patching is not feasible due to maintenance windows or compatibility concerns, strict access control policies should be enforced to limit CLI access exclusively to trusted administrative accounts with multi-factor authentication enabled. Additionally, network segmentation strategies should ensure that management interfaces are isolated from general user traffic and protected behind firewalls that restrict source IP addresses to known administration stations. Regular auditing of CLI command logs can also help in detecting anomalous patterns indicative of injection attempts, although prevention through patching remains the most effective defense against this class of vulnerability.