ZKTeco WL20 Biometric Attendance System up to 3.1.8 MQTT Credential hard-coded credentials

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in ZKTeco WL20 Biometric Attendance System up to 3.1.8. It has been rated as critical. This affects an unknown part of the component MQTT Credential Handler. Performing a manipulation results in hard-coded credentials. This vulnerability was named CVE-2025-54465. The attack may be carried out on the physical device. There is no available exploit.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in ZKTeco WL20 Biometric Attendance System up to 3.1.8. It has been classified as critical. This affects an unknown function of the component MQTT Credential Handler. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a hard-coded credentials vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-798. The product contains hard-coded credentials, such as a password or cryptographic key, which it uses for its own inbound authentication, outbound communication to external components, or encryption of internal data. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

This vulnerability exists in ZKTeco WL20 due to hard-coded MQTT credentials and endpoints stored in plaintext within the device firmware. An attacker with physical access could exploit this vulnerability by extracting the firmware and analyzing the binary data to retrieve the hard-coded MQTT credentials and endpoints from the targeted device. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow the attacker to gain unauthorized access to the MQTT broker and manipulate the communications of the targeted device.

The weakness was presented by Shravan Singh as CIVN-2025-0172. The advisory is shared at cert-in.org.in. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2025-54465 since 07/22/2025. The exploitability is told to be easy. An attack has to be approached locally. No form of authentication is needed for exploitation. Neither technical details nor an exploit are publicly available. MITRE ATT&CK project uses the attack technique T1110.001 for this issue.

There is no information about possible countermeasures known. It may be suggested to replace the affected object with an alternative product.

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Productinfo

Type

• Router Operating System

Vendor

• ZKTeco

Name

• WL20 Biometric Attendance System

Version

• 3.1.0
• 3.1.1
• 3.1.2
• 3.1.3
• 3.1.4
• 3.1.5
• 3.1.6
• 3.1.7
• 3.1.8

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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