BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access (PRA) and Remote Support (RS): code execution flaw under attack

What is affected

BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access (PRA) and Remote Support (RS) 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.

BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access (PRA) and Remote Support (RS) contain an OS command injection vulnerability that can be exploited by an attacker with existing administrative privileges to upload a malicious file. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability can allow a remote attacker to execute underlying operating system commands within the context of the site user.

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

Over the internet or network

Access the attacker needs

An administrator account

Does the victim have to do something?

No, works without the victim doing anything

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 BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access (PRA) and Remote Support (RS) 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 mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.

Vendor advisories and fixes

• beyondtrust.comwww.beyondtrust.com/trust-center/security-advisories/bt24-11

How urgent is it

CISA added this vulnerability to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalogue on January 13, 2025, which means there is reliable evidence of attacks in the wild. US federal agencies must fix it by February 3, 2025, 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 14% 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 7.2 out of 10 (high), as recorded in the US National Vulnerability Database.

Technical description

A vulnerability has been discovered in Privileged Remote Access (PRA) and Remote Support (RS) which can allow an attacker with existing administrative privileges to inject commands and run as a site user.