CVE-2024-2161

Executive Summary

CVE-2024-2161 is a critical vulnerability in Kiloview NDI devices (models N3, N3-s, N4, N20, N30, N40) that allows unauthenticated attackers to bypass authentication using hard-coded credentials. The vulnerability carries a CVSS score of 9.8, indicating a severe risk of complete compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The affected devices are professional video-over-IP encoders/decoders used in broadcast and production environments. The vendor has released firmware version 2.02.0227 to address the issue, but no public exploit code or proof-of-concept is currently available. The EPSS score of 0.0% suggests low exploitation activity in the wild, but the severity demands immediate attention.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
• Base Score: 9.8 (Critical)
• Attack Vector: Network (AV:N) – exploitable remotely.
• Attack Complexity: Low (AC:L) – no special conditions required.
• Privileges Required: None (PR:N) – no authentication needed.
• User Interaction: None (UI:N) – no user action required.
• Scope: Unchanged (S:U) – impact confined to the vulnerable component.
• Confidentiality Impact: High (C:H) – full device access, potential data exfiltration.
• Integrity Impact: High (I:H) – ability to modify device configuration and firmware.
• Availability Impact: High (A:H) – potential denial of service or device bricking.

Threat Level: Critical. The combination of remote exploitability, no authentication requirement, and high impact makes this a top-priority vulnerability for any organization using Kiloview NDI devices.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability stems from the use of hard-coded credentials embedded within the firmware of Kiloview NDI devices. These credentials are static and cannot be changed by the user. An unauthenticated attacker can leverage these credentials to gain administrative access to the device's web interface or API.

Root Cause: The device firmware contains a hard-coded username and password pair that is used for authentication. This is a classic CWE-798 (Use of Hard-coded Credentials) vulnerability. The credentials are likely stored in a configuration file or binary blob within the firmware image.

Attack Vector: An attacker can send a specially crafted HTTP request to the device's management interface (typically on port 80 or 443) using the hard-coded credentials. Successful authentication grants full administrative privileges.

Impact: Once authenticated, an attacker can:

• Modify video stream settings (resolution, bitrate, encoding parameters).
• Change network configuration (IP address, VLAN, routing).
• Upload malicious firmware, potentially bricking the device or establishing persistence.
• Exfiltrate video streams or sensitive network data.
• Use the device as a pivot point for further network attacks.

Affected Models: N3, N3-s, N4, N20, N30, N40. All models running firmware versions prior to 2.02.0227 are vulnerable.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Since no source code is publicly available, the analysis is based on the vendor's advisory and typical hard-coded credential patterns.

Vulnerable (Pre-2.02.0227):

• The firmware contains a hard-coded credential pair (e.g., admin:admin or a more obscure string) in a configuration file or binary.
• Authentication logic checks against this static pair without allowing user modification.

Patched (2.02.0227):

• The hard-coded credentials are removed.
• A mandatory password change is enforced on first login.
• The authentication mechanism is updated to use a secure, user-configurable password stored in a hashed format.

Example (Hypothetical):

// Vulnerable code (pseudo)
if (strcmp(username, "admin") == 0 && strcmp(password, "kiloview123") == 0) {
    grant_admin_access();
}

// Patched code (pseudo)
if (authenticate_user(username, password, stored_hash)) {
    grant_admin_access();
}

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team (Exploitation):

1. Reconnaissance: Identify Kiloview NDI devices on the network using Shodan dorks or network scanning (e.g., nmap -p 80,443 --open 192.168.1.0/24).
2. Credential Brute-Force: Attempt common hard-coded credentials (e.g., admin:admin, root:root, kiloview:kiloview).
3. Direct Access: Use the discovered credentials to log into the web interface or API.
4. Post-Exploitation: Modify video settings, exfiltrate streams, or upload malicious firmware.

Lab Setup:

• Hardware: Kiloview N3 or N4 device (firmware < 2.02.0227).
• Network: Isolated lab network with a Kali Linux attacker machine.
• Tools: curl, Burp Suite, nmap, Metasploit (if module available).

Example Exploitation Command:

# Attempt login with hard-coded credentials
curl -X POST http://<device_ip>/login -d "username=admin&password=kiloview123"

Blue Team (Detection & Defense):

1. Network Monitoring: Detect repeated failed login attempts or successful logins from unusual IPs.
2. Firmware Audit: Verify all Kiloview devices are running firmware 2.02.0227 or later.
3. Access Control: Restrict management interface access to trusted IPs only.
4. Honeypot: Deploy a decoy Kiloview device to capture attacker behavior.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network IOCs:
  • HTTP POST requests to /login with unusual credentials.
  • Connections to port 80/443 from unexpected IP ranges.
  • Unusual firmware update requests (e.g., POST to /firmware_update).
• Host IOCs:
  • Device configuration changes (e.g., new admin user, modified stream settings).
  • Unexpected device reboots or firmware version changes.
  • Presence of unknown files in the device's filesystem (if accessible).
• File IOCs:
  • Firmware images with hard-coded credentials (e.g., MD5 hash of vulnerable firmware).

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule:

rule CVE_2024_2161_Kiloview_Hardcoded_Creds {
    meta:
        description = "Detects hard-coded credentials in Kiloview NDI firmware"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2024-01-01"
        reference = "CVE-2024-2161"
    strings:
        $cred1 = "admin:admin" ascii wide nocase
        $cred2 = "kiloview:kiloview" ascii wide nocase
        $cred3 = "root:root" ascii wide nocase
        $cred4 = "ndi:ndi" ascii wide nocase
    condition:
        any of them
}

Sigma Rule:

title: CVE-2024-2161 - Kiloview NDI Hard-coded Credential Login
id: 12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789012
status: experimental
description: Detects successful login attempts using hard-coded credentials on Kiloview NDI devices
author: Valters IT
date: 2024-01-01
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
detection:
    selection:
        cs-method: 'POST'
        c-uri: '/login'
        cs-username: 'admin'
        sc-status: 200
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate admin login (if password was changed)
level: critical

Suricata Rule:

alert http $HOME_NET any -> $EXTERNAL_NET any (msg:"CVE-2024-2161 - Kiloview NDI Hard-coded Credential Attempt"; flow:to_server,established; content:"POST"; http_method; content:"/login"; http_uri; content:"username=admin&password="; http_client_body; classtype:attempted-admin; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Actions:

1. Update Firmware: Upgrade all affected Kiloview NDI devices to firmware version 2.02.0227 or later.
2. Change Default Credentials: After updating, change the admin password to a strong, unique value.
3. Network Segmentation: Place Kiloview devices on a separate VLAN with strict firewall rules.
4. Disable Remote Management: If not required, disable the web interface or restrict access to local network only.

Long-Term Measures:

• Vendor Communication: Contact Kiloview for a detailed security advisory and future update schedule.
• Asset Inventory: Maintain an up-to-date inventory of all Kiloview devices and their firmware versions.
• Monitoring: Implement continuous monitoring for unauthorized access attempts.
• Incident Response: Prepare an incident response plan specific to IoT/OT device compromise.

Workaround (if patching is not immediately possible):

• Block inbound traffic to ports 80/443 on the device from untrusted networks.
• Use a reverse proxy with authentication to add an additional layer of security.

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