The Versa Director uses PostgreSQL (Postgres) to store operational and configuration data. It is also needed for High Availability function of the Versa Director. The default configuration has a common password across all instances of Versa Director. By default, Versa Director configures Postgres to listen on all network interfaces. This combination allows an unauthenticated attacker to access and administer the database or read local filesystem contents to escalate privileges on the system.
Exploitation Status: Versa Networks is not aware of this exploitation in any production systems. A proof of concept exists in the lab environment.
Workarounds or Mitigation: Starting with the latest 22.1.4 version of Versa Director, the software will automatically restrict access to the Postgres and HA ports to only the local and peer Versa Directors. For older releases, Versa recommends performing manual hardening of HA ports. Please refer to the following link for the steps https://docs.versa-networks.com/Solutions/System_Hardening/Perform_Manual_Hardening_for_Versa_Director#Secure_HA_Ports
This vulnerability is not exploitable on Versa Directors if published Firewall guidelines are implemented. We have validated that no Versa-hosted head ends have been affected by this vulnerability. All Versa-hosted head ends are patched and hardened.
Please contact Versa Technical Support or Versa account team for any further assistance.
Software Download Links: 22.1.4: https://support.versa-networks.com/support/solutions/articles/23000026708-release-22-1-4
The product contains hard-coded credentials, such as a password or cryptographic key, which it uses for its own inbound authentication, outbound communication to external components, or encryption of internal data.
Hard-coded credentials typically create a significant hole that allows an attacker to bypass the authentication that has been configured by the product administrator. This hole might be difficult for the system administrator to detect. Even if detected, it can be difficult to fix, so the administrator may be forced into disabling the product entirely. There are two main variations:
In the Inbound variant, a default administration account is created, and a simple password is hard-coded into the product and associated with that account. This hard-coded password is the same for each installation of the product, and it usually cannot be changed or disabled by system administrators without manually modifying the program, or otherwise patching the product. If the password is ever discovered or published (a common occurrence on the Internet), then anybody with knowledge of this password can access the product. Finally, since all installations of the product will have the same password, even across different organizations, this enables massive attacks such as worms to take place. The Outbound variant applies to front-end systems that authenticate with a back-end service. The back-end service may require a fixed password which can be easily discovered. The programmer may simply hard-code those back-end credentials into the front-end product. Any user of that program may be able to extract the password. Client-side systems with hard-coded passwords pose even more of a threat, since the extraction of a password from a binary is usually very simple.