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CVE-2018-25117: New installations created from the compromised installer since at least May 2018 were subject to…
CVE-2018-25117 is rated critical with a CVSS v4.0 base score of 9.3. Per its scoring, it can be exploited over the network, without authentication.
Vulnerability description
VestaCP commit a3f0fa1 (2018-05-31) up to commit ee03eff (2018-06-13) contain embedded malicious code that resulted in a supply-chain compromise. New installations created from the compromised installer since at least May 2018 were subject to installation of Linux/ChachaDDoS, a multi-stage DDoS bot that uses Lua for second- and third-stage components. The compromise leaked administrative credentials (base64-encoded admin password and server domain) to an external URL during installation and/or resulted in the installer dropping and executing a DDoS malware payload under local system privileges. Compromised servers were subsequently observed participating in large-scale DDoS activity. Vesta acknowledged exploitation in the wild in October 2018.
Severity breakdown
CVSS v4.0 9.3: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:H/SI:H/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
- Attack vector: Network. Exploitable remotely over the network.
- Attack complexity: Low. No special conditions; the attack can be repeated reliably.
- Attack requirements: None. No deployment or execution conditions are needed.
- Privileges required: None. No account or prior access is needed.
- User interaction: Active. A user must knowingly take specific action.
- Confidentiality impact (vulnerable system): High. Total loss of confidentiality.
- Integrity impact (vulnerable system): High. Total loss of integrity.
- Availability impact (vulnerable system): None. No effect on availability.
- Confidentiality impact (subsequent systems): High. Total loss of confidentiality on other systems.
- Integrity impact (subsequent systems): High. Total loss of integrity on other systems.
- Availability impact (subsequent systems): None. No availability impact beyond the vulnerable system.
Underlying weakness
CWE-506: Embedded Malicious Code
The product contains code that appears to be malicious in nature.
Affected products
References
- https://forum.vestacp.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=17641&p=73282
- https://forum.vestacp.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=17641&start=180#p73907
- https://github.com/outroll/vesta
- https://github.com/outroll/vesta/commit/a3f0fa1501d424477786e3e7150bb05c0b99518f#diff-df8da0c91e9086454c60cd468849630dR1256
- https://github.com/outroll/vesta/commit/ee03eff016e03cb76fac7ae3a0f9d1ef0f8ee35b#diff-df8da0c91e9086454c60cd468849630dL1270
- https://vestacp.com/
- https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/vestacp-debian-installer-malicious-backdoor-supply-chain-compromise
- https://www.welivesecurity.com/2018/10/18/new-linux-chachaddos-malware-distributed-servers-vestacp-installed/