SolarWinds Issues Fix for Critical Vulnerability in Web Help Desk Software

August 15, 2024Ravie LakshmananEnterprise Security / Vulnerability

SolarWinds has introduced fixes to tackle a crucial security flaw in its Web Help Desk software that could be abused to execute unauthorized commands on vulnerable instances.

August 15, 2024Ravie LakshmananEnterprise Security / Vulnerability

SolarWinds Releases Patch for Critical Flaw in Web Help Desk Software

SolarWinds has introduced fixes to tackle a crucial security flaw in its Web Help Desk software that could be abused to execute unauthorized commands on vulnerable instances.

The vulnerability, identified as CVE-2024-28986 (CVSS score: 9.8), is characterized as a deserialization glitch.

“An issue was identified in SolarWinds Web Help Desk that exposes it to a Java deserialization remote code execution vulnerability, allowing attackers to perform commands on the target machine,” stated the company in an advisory.

“Although initially reported as an unauthenticated flaw, SolarWinds has been unable to replicate it without authentication following extensive testing.”

The vulnerability impacts all editions of SolarWinds Web Help Desk, including version 12.8.3 and earlier. The issue has been fixed in hotfix version 12.8.3 HF 1.

The announcement coincides with Palo Alto Networks resolving a severe vulnerability in Cortex XSOAR that could lead to command injection and code execution.

Designated as CVE-2024-5914 (CVSS score: 7.0), the weakness affects all versions of Cortex XSOAR CommonScripts up to 1.12.33.

“A flaw in Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR CommonScripts Pack allows unauthorized parties to run arbitrary commands within an integration container,” as per the company’s announcement.

“For the vulnerability to be exploitable, an integration must rely on the ScheduleGenericPolling or GenericPollingScheduledTask scripts from the CommonScripts pack.”

Palo Alto Networks has also addressed two moderate-severity issues as outlined below:

CVE-2024-5915 (CVSS score: 5.2) – A privilege escalation (PE) flaw in the GlobalProtect app on Windows devices enabling a local user to execute programs with elevated privileges

CVE-2024-5916 (CVSS score: 6.0) – An information disclosure flaw in PAN-OS software allowing a local system administrator to view secrets, passwords, and tokens of external systems

Users are advised to update to the latest version to diminish potential risks. As a preventive step, it is recommended to invalidate the secrets, passwords, and tokens configured in PAN-OS firewalls post-upgrade.

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AndyC

Andy Curtis is an award-winning security consultant, researcher and public speaker. He has been working in the computer security industry since the early 1990s, having been employed by state and federal government, leading healthcare and banking providers across three continents. He has given talks about computer security for some of the world’s largest companies, worked with law enforcement agencies on investigations into hacking groups, and is a regular voice on TV and radio explaining IT security threats.

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