Vulnerability Spotlight: Netgear Orbi router vulnerable to arbitrary command execution

Tuesday, March 21, 2023 13:03

Christopher McBee and Dave McDaniel of Cisco Talos discovered these vulnerabilities.

Cisco Talos recently discovered four vulnerabilities in the Netgear Orbi mesh wireless system, including the main hub router and satellite routers that extend the network’s range.

A mesh system allows users to set up multiple access points to the Wi-Fi in their homes using various access points. Netgear’s Orbi system connects to the user’s modem or gateway and uses “satellites” to extend the Wi-Fi signal to different places throughout the home.

Talos discovered a vulnerability in the Orbi Satellite — TALOS-2022-1596 (CVE-2022-37337) — that could lead to arbitrary command execution on the device. The user needs to authenticate into the mesh system first, meaning they’d need to access an unprotected network or the login credentials of a password-protected network, for this attack to be successful. Then, the adversary needs to send a specially crafted HTTP request to trigger the vulnerability.

Two other issues, TALOS-2022-1595 (CVE-2022-38452) and TALOS-2022-1597 (CVE-2022-36429), exist in the main Orbi router that could also lead to arbitrary command execution if the adversary sends a specially crafted network request or JSON object, respectively.

TALOS-2022-1598 (CVE-2022-38458) also exists in the router. In this case, though, an adversary can carry out a man-in-the-middle attack to trick the service’s Web Services Management tool into disclosing sensitive information.

Cisco Talos worked with Netgear to ensure that TALOS-2022-1596, TALOS-2022-1597 and TALOS-2022-1598 are resolved and an update is available for affected customers. However, the company is still developing a patch for TALOS-2022-1595, though we are disclosing this vulnerability according to our 90-day timeline outlined in Cisco’s vulnerability disclosure policy.

Users are encouraged to update these affected products as soon as possible: Netgear Orbi Satellite RBS750, version 4.6.8.5. Talos tested and confirmed these versions of the Orbi system could be exploited by these vulnerabilities.

The following Snort rules will detect exploitation attempts against this vulnerability: 60474 – 60477 and 60499. Additional rules may be released in the future and current rules are subject to change, pending additional vulnerability information. For the most current rule information, please refer to your Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center or Snort.org.