Arlo Q Plus SSH Use of Hard-coded Credentials Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

June 14th, 2021
ZDI-21-683 ZDI-CAN-12890

CVE ID

CVE-2021-31505

CVSS Score

6.8 AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected Vendors

Arlo

Affected Products

Q Plus

Vulnerability Details

This vulnerability allows attackers with physical access to escalate privileges on affected installations of Arlo Q Plus. Authentication is not required to exploit this vulnerability.

The specific flaw exists within the SSH service. The device can be booted into a special operation mode where hard-coded credentials are accepted for SSH authentication. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code in the context of root.

Additional Details

Arlo has issued an update to correct this vulnerability. More details can be found at:
https://kb.arlo.com/000062592/Security-Advisory-for-Arlo-Q-Plus-SSH-Use-of-Hard-coded-Credentials-Allowing-Privilege-Escalation

Disclosure Timeline

  • 2021-02-12 - Vulnerability reported to vendor
  • 2021-06-14 - Coordinated public release of advisory

Credit

Team FLASHBACK: Pedro Ribeiro (@pedrib1337 | pedrib@gmail.com) + Radek Domanski (@RabbitPro)

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