Helmholz: Privilege Escalation in shDialup (Update A)

Act Now9.8VDE-2021-057Mar 28, 2021
Attack VectorNetwork
Auth RequiredNone
ComplexityLow
User InteractionNone needed
Summary

Multiple vulnerabilities in shDialup allow privilege escalation and arbitrary code execution due to improper privilege management in a software service. The service accepts network requests that are processed with elevated privileges without requiring authentication. An attacker can exploit this to execute arbitrary commands on affected devices. This update corrects the privilege management issues.

What this means
What could happen
An attacker can execute arbitrary commands on shDialup devices without authentication, potentially disrupting remote access, VPN connectivity, or other network service functionality that Helmholz devices rely on for distributed operations or monitoring.
Who's at risk
Helmholz remote access and VPN gateway administrators should prioritize this. shDialup is used in networked industrial environments to manage remote connections to distributed control systems, making this vulnerability critical for any facility relying on remote diagnostics, VPN tunnels, or centralized monitoring of remote PLC sites.
How it could be exploited
An attacker on the network sends specially crafted requests to the vulnerable shDialup service. Due to improper privilege management, these requests are processed with elevated privileges, allowing the attacker to execute arbitrary code without providing any credentials.
Prerequisites
  • Network access to the shDialup service port
  • No authentication required
remotely exploitableno authentication requiredlow complexityhigh CVSS score (9.8)arbitrary code execution
Affected products (1)
ProductAffected VersionsFix Status
shDialup≤ 3.9R0.03.9R0.5
Remediation & Mitigation
0/1
Schedule — requires maintenance window
0/1

Patching may require device reboot — plan for process interruption

HOTFIXUpdate shDialup to version 3.9R0.5 or later
API: /api/v1/advisories/6abccbe0-d7ed-433e-83be-565230c3617c