D-Link DIR-600 Router: request forgery flaw under attack

What is affected

D-Link DIR-600 Router is the kind of equipment many homes and small offices run for years without touching: a router, camera or storage box. Attackers scan the internet for exposed units, and a hijacked one can spy on traffic or be enrolled in a botnet without any visible sign.

D-Link DIR-600 routers contain a cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability that allows an attacker to change router configurations by hijacking an existing administrator session.

What an attacker can do

This is a request forgery flaw. It lets an attacker trick a logged-in user's browser into performing actions the user never intended, such as changing settings or creating accounts.

How it is reached

From the same local network

Access the attacker needs

A basic user account

Does the victim have to do something?

No, works without the victim doing anything

What to do

1. Check whether you own this device: look at the label on your router, camera or NAS, or open its admin page and note the model and firmware version.
2. Install the latest firmware from the manufacturer's support page or the device's own update menu.
3. If the manufacturer no longer releases updates for the model, replace it. An end-of-life device with an exploited flaw cannot be made safe.
4. Turn off remote administration from the internet unless you truly need it, and change the default admin password.

This vulnerability affects legacy D-Link products. All associated hardware revisions have reached their end-of-life (EOL) or end-of-service (EOS) life cycle and should be retired and replaced per vendor instructions.

Vendor advisories and fixes

• legacy.us.dlink.comlegacy.us.dlink.com/pages/product.aspx?id=4587b63118524aec911191cc81605283

How urgent is it

CISA added this vulnerability to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalogue on May 16, 2024, which means there is reliable evidence of attacks in the wild. US federal agencies must fix it by June 6, 2024, 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 43% probability that this flaw will be exploited somewhere in the next 30 days. That is higher than 99% of all scored vulnerabilities.

Its CVSS severity score is 8.0 out of 10 (high), as recorded in the US National Vulnerability Database.

Technical description

Multiple cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerabilities in D-Link DIR-600 router (rev. Bx) with firmware before 2.17b02 allow remote attackers to hijack the authentication of administrators for requests that (1) create an administrator account or (2) enable remote management via a crafted configuration module to hedwig.cgi, (3) activate new configuration settings via a SETCFG,SAVE,ACTIVATE action to pigwidgeon.cgi, or (4) send a ping via a ping action to diagnostic.php.