Actively exploited vulnerability
InduSoft Web Studio: file access flaw under attack
CVE-2014-0780 · InduSoft Web Studio NTWebServer Directory Traversal Vulnerability
What is affected
InduSoft Web Studio is mostly run by companies, schools and public bodies, not on home computers. You are unlikely to have it yourself, but organisations that hold your data may. Breaches that start with flaws like this one are how personal data ends up leaked.
InduSoft Web Studio NTWebServer contains a directory traversal vulnerability that allows remote attackers to read administrative passwords in APP files, allowing for remote code execution.
What an attacker can do
This is a file access flaw. It lets an attacker read or write files they should never reach, such as configuration files that hold passwords, or upload a malicious file that the system then runs.
- How it is reached
- Over the internet or network
- Access the attacker needs
- No account needed
- Does the victim have to do something?
- No, works without the victim doing anything
What to do
- At home: nothing to install. Keep your own devices updated and use a different password for every service, so that a breach at one organisation does not open your other accounts.
- If you administer InduSoft Web Studio at work: apply the vendor's fix or mitigation now and review logs for signs of compromise, because the flaw was being exploited before it was listed.
- If the product is past its support date and no fix exists, take it off the internet or retire it.
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
How urgent is it
CISA added this vulnerability to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalogue on April 15, 2022, which means there is reliable evidence of attacks in the wild. US federal agencies must fix it by May 6, 2022, a deadline that has already passed. That deadline does not bind anyone else, but it shows how seriously the agency rates it.
The EPSS model estimates a 75% probability that this flaw will be exploited somewhere in the next 30 days. That is higher than 99.5% of all scored vulnerabilities.
Its CVSS severity score is 9.8 out of 10 (critical), as recorded in the US National Vulnerability Database.
Technical description
Directory traversal vulnerability in NTWebServer in InduSoft Web Studio 7.1 before SP2 Patch 4 allows remote attackers to read administrative passwords in APP files, and consequently execute arbitrary code, via unspecified web requests.