Root access via post-verification firmware replacement
Published May 7, 2024 · Updated Aug 2, 2024
A firmware-update race in Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise ALE DeskPhones allows local users to install malicious firmware and gain root access. The update workflow verifies a world-writable image in /tmp, releases it without retaining a lock or file handle, and later installs the same path after its contents can be overwritten. Exploitation requires the low-privileged admin shell through authenticated SSH or physical UART access and initiation of an update with valid firmware.
Summary
What happened
A firmware-update race in Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise ALE DeskPhones allows local users to install malicious firmware and gain root access. The update workflow verifies a world-writable image in /tmp, releases it without retaining a lock or file handle, and later installs the same path after its contents can be overwritten. Exploitation requires the low-privileged admin shell through authenticated SSH or physical UART access and initiation of an update with valid firmware.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2024-29149
- Published
- May 7, 2024
- Updated
- Aug 2, 2024
- Vendor
- Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise
- Product
- ALE-300 Enterprise DeskPhone
- Classifications
- CWE-367, CAPEC-29, T1542.002
- Attack vector
- physical
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 7, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 2, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=-
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- SySS firmware-update race proof of conceptfunctional · demonstrated
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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