CVE-2026-73809 in NE2-D11
Summary
by MITRE • 08/28/2026
A cleartext transmission of sensitive information vulnerability exists in certain Ebyte gateway products. The web management interface does not adequately protect sensitive communications using transport-layer encryption. An attacker with access to network traffic could intercept authentication or session-related information transmitted between a user and the affected device. Successful exploitation could result in disclosure of sensitive information and unauthorized access to device management functionality.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/28/2026
The vulnerability identified within certain Ebyte gateway products represents a critical failure in transport-layer security, specifically categorized under CWE-319 as cleartext transmission of sensitive information over an insecure channel. This flaw stems from the web management interface failing to enforce encryption protocols such as TLS or SSL for communications between the administrator and the device. In modern network infrastructure, especially within Internet of Things (IoT) environments where gateways serve as critical bridges between local networks and external services, the integrity and confidentiality of administrative traffic are paramount. The absence of these protections means that any data exchanged during management sessions is transmitted in plain text, rendering it readable to any entity capable of monitoring the network segment on which the gateway resides.
From a technical perspective, this misconfiguration allows for straightforward interception using common packet analysis tools such as Wireshark or tcpdump without requiring advanced cryptographic breaking capabilities. An attacker positioned within the same local area network, or potentially in a man-in-the-middle position if routing is manipulated, can capture HTTP requests and responses directly. This includes login credentials, session tokens, configuration changes, and other administrative commands. The vulnerability aligns with MITRE ATT&CK technique T1078, Valid Accounts, as intercepted credentials allow an attacker to authenticate legitimately without detection by standard security monitoring systems that rely on anomaly-based detection rather than content inspection of encrypted traffic which is not present here.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe due to the privileged nature of web management interfaces. Successful exploitation does not merely result in data leakage but facilitates unauthorized access to device functionality. Once an attacker intercepts valid authentication credentials or session cookies, they can replay these values to gain full administrative control over the gateway. This level of access allows for comprehensive reconfiguration of network settings, including DNS alterations, firewall rule modifications, and potentially firmware updates that could introduce further backdoors. In a corporate or industrial environment, compromising a single gateway through this method can serve as an initial foothold for lateral movement into more sensitive internal networks, effectively bypassing perimeter defenses designed to stop external attacks but not insider threats or compromised local devices.
Mitigation strategies must prioritize the immediate enforcement of secure communication protocols. Administrators should configure the Ebyte gateways to require HTTPS with valid certificates for all web management access, ensuring that TLS is enabled and older, insecure versions are disabled. If self-signed certificates are used due to internal network constraints, clients must be configured to trust these specific certificates to prevent certificate validation errors from discouraging users from attempting secure connections. Additionally, implementing strict network segmentation can limit the blast radius of this vulnerability by isolating management traffic on dedicated VLANs that are inaccessible to general user endpoints or untrusted devices. Regular auditing of configuration settings and automated scanning for cleartext services should be integrated into routine security operations to detect such misconfigurations before they can be exploited.