CommScope Ruckus IoT Controller Hard-coded System Passwords

Vulnerability Details

Affected Vendor: CommScope
Affected Product: Ruckus IoT Controller
Affected Version: 1.7.1.0 and earlier
Platform: Linux
CWE Classification: CWE-259: Use of Hard-coded Password
CVE ID: CVE-2021-33218

Vulnerability Description

Hard coded, system-level credentials exist on the Ruckus IoT
Controller OVA image, and are exposed to attackers who mount
the filesystem.

Technical Description

Ruckus vRIoT server software is available from the software
library at: https://support.ruckuswireless.com/software/

Once the OVA is imported into VirtualBox, a VMDK file is
created. The VMDK file can be mounted and the directory
structure and its contents can be perused. The virtual appliance
contains three system accounts with password hashes. The three
accounts are ‘root’, ‘admin’, and ‘vriotha’. The ‘admin’
account is documented in vendor documentation, but not the
other two accounts.

The password for ‘admin’ is documented and can be changed
by the user. The password for the ‘vriotha’ account is
‘nplus1user’. The password for the ‘vriotha’ account
is hardcoded into support scripts. The root hash is still
undergoing password cracking attempts. The ‘admin’ and ‘vriotha’
accounts are restricted in terms of their shell, they do
not drop to typical Unix shell access. The virtual appliance
does not appear to offer a mechanism for changing the default
password from the vendor for the ‘root’ or ‘vriotha’ accounts.

Mitigation and Remediation Recommendation

The vendor has released an updated firmware (1.8.0.0) which
remediates the described vulnerability. Firmware and release
notes are available at:

https://www.commscope.com/globalassets/digizuite/917216-faq-security-advisory-id-20210525-v1-0.pdf

Credit

This vulnerability was discovered by Jim Becher (@jimbecher)
of KoreLogic, Inc.

Disclosure Timeline

2021.03.30 - KoreLogic submits vulnerability details to
CommScope.
2021.03.30 - CommScope acknowledges receipt and the intention
to investigate.
2021.04.06 - CommScope notifies KoreLogic that this issue,
along with several others reported by KoreLogic,
will require more than the standard 45 business
day remediation timeline.
2021.04.06 - KoreLogic agrees to extend disclosure embargo if
necessary.
2021.04.30 - CommScope informs KoreLogic that remediation for
this vulnerability will be available inside of the
standard 45 business day timeline. Requests
KoreLogic acquire CVE number for this
vulnerability.
2021.05.14 - 30 business days have elapsed since the
vulnerability was reported to CommScope.
2021.05.17 - CommScope notifies KoreLogic that the patched
version of the firmware will be available the week
of 2021.05.24.
2021.05.19 - KoreLogic requests CVE from MITRE.
2021.05.19 - MITRE issues CVE-2021-33218.
2021.05.25 - CommScope releases firmware 1.8.0.0 and associated
advisory.
2021.05.26 - KoreLogic public disclosure.

Proof of Concept

With the VMDK file mounted at the current working directory:
$ sudo cat etc/shadow
root:$1$root$.6wlmowMW0KVjst8z6Yqa.:17393:0:99999:7:::
…
admin:$6$AwyhYDBW$KS5q63LZBuQxPM2RG1N/.TvbaKC5gnoq8ERgMSBGms1EL9IZPrM4SscOvsF/FsoD1fgFjYrJF1as0BSYM0SVa0:17667:0:99999:7:::
vriotha:$6$c4jEcmjj$uDjuSxfkzd0QHt/MAGnPJ798izuVhq11MSmkS3iXtDg.iqSumzou4.HauYOrSIYl5JdQlrbZAL7PAkPfrxcxH0:18626:0:99999:7:::

$ egrep ‘^root|^admin|^vriotha’ etc/passwd
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
admin:x:1001:1001::/home/admin:/VRIOT/ops/scripts/ras
vriotha:x:1003:1003::/home/vriotha:/usr/bin/rssh

/VRIOT/ops/scripts/haN1/n1_ha.py:
scpstr = “vriotha@”+slave_ip+“:/tmp/authkey >/dev/null 2>&1”
#call([‘sshpass’,‘-p’,‘“nplus1user”’,‘scp’,‘-o’,‘StrictHostKeyChecking=no’,‘/etc/corosync/authkey’,scpstr])
os.system(" “.join([‘sshpass’,‘-p’,‘“nplus1user”’,‘scp’,‘-o’,‘StrictHostKeyChecking=no’,‘/etc/corosync/authkey’,scpstr]))
…
### Call slave API to create user #####
# HOTST_URL = “https://”+replace_ip+”/service/v1/createUser"
# json_request = {
# “username”:“vriotha”,
# “password”:“nplus1user”
…
os.system(" ".join([‘sshpass’,‘-p’,‘“nplus1user”’,‘scp’,‘-o’,‘StrictHostKeyChecking=no’,‘/etc/corosync/authkey’,scpstr]))

/VRIOT/ops/scripts/entrypoint.py:
userpwd = ‘useradd vriotha ; echo vriotha:nplus1user | chpasswd >/dev/null 2>&1’
os.system(userpwd)
call([‘usermod’,‘-aG’,‘sudo’,‘vriotha’],stdout=devNullFile)
call([‘chsh’,‘-s’,‘/usr/bin/rssh’,‘vriotha’],stdout=devNullFile)

/VRIOT/ops/scripts/haN1/ha_slave.py:
scpstr = “vriotha@”+master_ip+“:/VRIOT/ha/”
os.system(" ".join([‘sshpass’,‘-p’,‘“nplus1user”’,‘scp’,‘-o’,‘StrictHostKeyChecking=no’,‘-r’,scpstr,‘/VRIOT/’+master_ip+‘/’]))