PowerPanel Enterprise: Improper Neutralization of Escape, Meta, or Control Sequences
CVE-2023-3265 is a critical-severity improper neutralization of escape, meta, or control sequences vulnerability in PowerPanel Enterprise from CyberPower, with a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8 out of 10. It can be exploited remotely over the network by an unauthenticated attacker, without any action from a user. Affected PowerPanel Enterprise versions: v2.6.0. The record does not name a fixed version, so check the vendor advisory. There is no confirmed exploitation so far. EPSS estimates a 1.62% chance of exploitation within 30 days, higher than 76% of scored CVEs.
Critical severity: a successful attack would have severe impact.
What to do
- Update Powerpanel Server to 2.6.9 or a later version.
- Read the advisory on trellix.com for workarounds and exact fixed builds.
- Until you can update, restrict network access to the affected service so it is not reachable from untrusted networks.
Affected products and versions
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| CyberPower | PowerPanel Enterprise | v2.6.0 | Not stated |
| Cyberpower | Powerpanel Server | before 2.6.9 | 2.6.9 |
Version data comes from the organisation that assigned the CVE. Confirm against the vendor advisory before deciding you are unaffected.
How the severity score breaks down
- Attack vector
- NetworkCan be exploited remotely over a network, including the internet.
- Attack complexity
- LowNo special conditions are needed; the attack works reliably.
- Privileges required
- NoneNo account or login is needed.
- User interaction
- NoneNo action by a victim is required.
- Scope
- UnchangedImpact stays within the vulnerable component.
- Confidentiality
- HighAll data handled by the component can be read.
- Integrity
- HighData or code can be modified at will.
- Availability
- HighThe component can be taken down completely.
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H. Scored by NVD.
| Scoring system | Score | Severity | Scored by |
|---|---|---|---|
| CVSS 3.1 | 9.8 | Critical | CNA (trellix.com) |
| CVSS 3.1 | 9.8 | Critical | NVD |
Official description
An authentication bypass exists on CyberPower PowerPanel Enterprise by failing to sanitize meta-characters from the username, allowing an attacker to login into the application with the default user "cyberpower" by appending a non-printable character.An unauthenticated attacker can leverage this vulnerability to log in to the CypberPower PowerPanel Enterprise as an administrator with hardcoded default credentials.
Source: the CVE record as published by its numbering authority, via NVD and CVE.org.
The underlying weakness: Improper Neutralization of Escape, Meta, or Control Sequences
The product receives input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could be interpreted as escape, meta, or control character sequences when they are sent to a downstream component.
How developers prevent this class of flaw
- Developers should anticipate that escape, meta and control characters/sequences will be injected/removed/manipulated in the input vectors of their product. Use an appropriate combination of denylists and allowlists to ensure only valid, expected and appropriate input is processed by the system.
- While it is risky to use dynamically-generated query strings, code, or commands that mix control and data together, sometimes it may be unavoidable. Properly quote arguments and escape any special characters within those arguments. The most conservative approach is to escape or filter all characters that do not pass an extremely strict allowlist (such as everything that is not alphanumeric or white space). If some special characters are still needed, such as white space, wrap each argument in quotes after the escaping/filtering step. Be careful of argument injection (CWE-88).
- Inputs should be decoded and canonicalized to the application's current internal representation before being validated (CWE-180). Make sure that the application does not decode the same input twice (CWE-174). Such errors could be used to bypass allowlist validation schemes by introducing dangerous inputs after they have been checked.
More Improper Neutralization of Escape, Meta, or Control Sequences vulnerabilities (CWE-150)
Timeline
- CVE record published.
- CISA published its SSVC assessment (exploitation: none, automatable: yes, technical impact: total).
- Record last changed materially (score, affected products, status or references).
References
Other vulnerabilities in PowerPanel Enterprise
- 7.5 High severity
- 7.5 High severity
- 7.5 High severity
- 7.5 High severity
- 9.8 Critical severity
- 8.8 High severity
Recent Improper Neutralization of Escape, Meta, or Control Sequences vulnerabilities
- 8.8 High severity
- 9.9 Critical severity
- 10.0 Critical severity
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