Mitel MiVoice Connect: code execution flaw under attack

What is affected

Mitel MiVoice Connect 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.

The Director component in Mitel MiVoice Connect allows an authenticated attacker with internal network access to execute code within the context of the application.

What an attacker can do

This is a code execution flaw. It lets an attacker run their own commands or programs on the affected system. In practice that usually means taking it over: installing malware, stealing data or using it to reach other devices on the same network.

How it is reached

From the same local network

Access the attacker needs

An administrator account

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 Mitel MiVoice Connect 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.

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Vendor advisories and fixes

• mitel.comwww.mitel.com/support/security-advisories/mitel-product-security-advisory-22-0008

How urgent is it

CISA added this vulnerability to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalogue on February 21, 2023, which means there is reliable evidence of attacks in the wild. US federal agencies must fix it by March 14, 2023, 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 11% probability that this flaw will be exploited somewhere in the next 30 days. That is higher than 96% of all scored vulnerabilities.

Its CVSS severity score is 6.8 out of 10 (medium), as recorded in the US National Vulnerability Database.

Technical description

The Director database component of MiVoice Connect through 19.3 (22.22.6100.0) could allow an authenticated attacker to conduct a code-injection attack via crafted data due to insufficient restrictions on the database data type.