Actively exploited vulnerability

SonicWall Secure Remote Access (SRA): sql injection flaw under attack

CVE-2021-20028 · SonicWall Secure Remote Access (SRA) SQL Injection Vulnerability

Business software9.8 criticalUsed in ransomware attacks

What is affected

SonicWall Secure Remote Access (SRA) 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.

SonicWall Secure Remote Access (SRA) products contain an improper neutralization of a SQL Command leading to SQL injection.

CISA's description

What an attacker can do

This is a sql injection flaw. It lets an attacker read, change or delete records in the product's database. That often includes user accounts and stored passwords.

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

CISA records this vulnerability as known to be used in ransomware campaigns: attackers use it to get in, then encrypt files and demand payment.

What to do

  1. 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.
  2. If you administer SonicWall Secure Remote Access (SRA) 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.
  3. If the product is past its support date and no fix exists, take it off the internet or retire it.

The impacted product is end-of-life and should be disconnected if still in use.

Action required by CISA for US federal agencies

How urgent is it

CISA added this vulnerability to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalogue on March 28, 2022, which means there is reliable evidence of attacks in the wild. US federal agencies must fix it by April 18, 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 30% probability that this flaw will be exploited somewhere in the next 30 days. That is higher than 98% 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

Improper neutralization of a SQL Command leading to SQL Injection vulnerability impacting end-of-life Secure Remote Access (SRA) products, specifically the SRA appliances running all 8.x firmware and 9.0.0.9-26sv or earlier

NIST National Vulnerability Database
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