CVE-2025-54754

Executive Summary

CVE-2025-54754 is a critical vulnerability affecting Cognex industrial devices. An attacker with adjacent network access, without any authentication, can exploit a hard-coded password embedded in publicly available software. This password can then be used to decrypt sensitive network traffic, leading to full compromise of the device's confidentiality and integrity. The vulnerability has a CVSS score of 8.0, indicating high severity. No patch is currently available, and no public proof-of-concept (PoC) code has been released.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• CVSS Score: 8.0 (High)
• Attack Vector (AV): Adjacent Network (AV:A) – The attacker must be on the same physical or logical network segment.
• Attack Complexity (AC): Low (AC:L) – No special conditions or race conditions required.
• Privileges Required (PR): None (PR:N) – No authentication needed.
• User Interaction (UI): None (UI:N) – No user action required.
• Scope (S): Unchanged (S:U) – The exploit does not affect other components.
• Confidentiality (C): High (C:H) – Full decryption of network traffic.
• Integrity (I): High (I:H) – Potential to modify decrypted traffic.
• Availability (A): High (A:H) – Potential to disrupt device operation.

Threat Level: Critical. The combination of no authentication, hard-coded credentials, and the ability to decrypt traffic makes this a high-priority target for attackers.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability stems from a hard-coded password (CWE-798) embedded in publicly available software (likely firmware or a management tool) for Cognex devices. This password is used to encrypt or decrypt network traffic, such as configuration data, video streams, or command-and-control communications.

Attack Flow:

1. Reconnaissance: The attacker scans for Cognex devices on the adjacent network (e.g., using Shodan dorks or network scanning).
2. Password Extraction: The attacker obtains the publicly available software (e.g., from the vendor's website or a third-party repository) and extracts the hard-coded password through static analysis (e.g., strings command, disassembly).
3. Traffic Interception: The attacker captures network traffic to/from the target device (e.g., using ARP spoofing or passive sniffing).
4. Decryption: Using the extracted password, the attacker decrypts the captured traffic, gaining access to sensitive data (e.g., camera feeds, configuration settings, credentials).
5. Further Exploitation: The attacker may use the decrypted data to gain deeper access, modify device settings, or pivot to other systems.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Since no patch is available, there is no patched code to compare. The vulnerable code is the publicly available software containing the hard-coded password. A patched version would:

• Remove the hard-coded password.
• Implement a secure key exchange mechanism (e.g., TLS with certificate validation).
• Use per-device or per-session encryption keys.

Example of vulnerable code (pseudocode):

# Vulnerable: Hard-coded password
ENCRYPTION_PASSWORD = "CognexSecret2025"

def decrypt_traffic(encrypted_data):
    cipher = AES.new(ENCRYPTION_PASSWORD, AES.MODE_CBC)
    return cipher.decrypt(encrypted_data)

Example of patched code (pseudocode):

# Patched: Use TLS with certificate validation
import ssl
import socket

def secure_connect(host, port):
    context = ssl.create_default_context()
    context.load_verify_locations('ca_cert.pem')
    sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
    secure_sock = context.wrap_socket(sock, server_hostname=host)
    secure_sock.connect((host, port))
    return secure_sock

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team (Offensive)

Lab Environment:

• Target: Cognex device (e.g., In-Sight 7000 series) on a local network.
• Attacker: Kali Linux machine on the same subnet.
• Tools: Wireshark, tcpdump, Python, strings, binwalk.

Steps:

1. Extract Password:

   strings firmware.bin | grep -i password
   

   Or use a hex editor to locate the hard-coded string.

2. Capture Traffic:

   tcpdump -i eth0 -w capture.pcap host <target_ip>
   

3. Decrypt Traffic:

   from Crypto.Cipher import AES
   import base64
   
   password = b"ExtractedPassword"
   cipher = AES.new(password, AES.MODE_CBC, iv=b'\x00'*16)
   with open('capture.pcap', 'rb') as f:
       encrypted_data = f.read()
   decrypted = cipher.decrypt(encrypted_data)
   print(decrypted)
   

Blue Team (Defensive)

Detection:

• Monitor for unauthorized access to the device's management interface.
• Use network segmentation to isolate Cognex devices from untrusted networks.
• Deploy IDS/IPS rules to detect exploitation attempts (see Detection Engineering).

Mitigation:

• If possible, disable the use of hard-coded passwords and implement certificate-based authentication.
• Apply network access controls (NAC) to restrict which devices can communicate with Cognex devices.
• Monitor for unusual traffic patterns, such as repeated ARP requests or large amounts of encrypted data.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network:
  • Unusual ARP spoofing activity on the local network.
  • Large volumes of encrypted traffic to/from Cognex devices.
  • Connections from unknown IP addresses to the device's management port (e.g., 80, 443, 8080).
• Host:
  • Presence of the hard-coded password in memory or logs.
  • Unauthorized changes to device configuration.
• File:
  • The publicly available software containing the hard-coded password (e.g., firmware.bin, setup.exe).

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2025_54754_Hardcoded_Password {
    meta:
        description = "Detects hard-coded password used in CVE-2025-54754"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        reference = "CVE-2025-54754"
    strings:
        $password = "CognexSecret2025" nocase
        $password2 = "CognexDefaultPass" nocase
    condition:
        any of them
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2025-54754 - Hardcoded Password Exploitation
id: 12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789abc
status: experimental
description: Detects network traffic decryption attempts using hard-coded password
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
logsource:
    category: network_connection
    product: suricata
detection:
    selection:
        dest_port:
            - 80
            - 443
            - 8080
        payload|contains: "CognexSecret2025"
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate administrative traffic
level: high

Suricata Rule

alert tcp $HOME_NET any -> $EXTERNAL_NET 80,443,8080 (msg:"CVE-2025-54754 - Hardcoded Password in Traffic"; content:"CognexSecret2025"; nocase; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Actions:

1. Isolate Devices: Place Cognex devices on a separate VLAN with strict access controls.
2. Monitor Traffic: Enable logging and monitoring for any suspicious activity.
3. Disable Unused Services: Turn off any unnecessary network services on the device.

Long-Term Fix:

• Vendor Patch: Await an official patch from Cognex that removes the hard-coded password and implements secure key exchange.
• Custom Encryption: If patching is not possible, implement a VPN or SSH tunnel to encrypt traffic between the device and management systems.
• Credential Rotation: If the device allows, change the encryption password to a unique, strong value.

Workarounds:

• Use network-level encryption (e.g., IPsec) to protect traffic.
• Implement a firewall rule to block traffic from untrusted sources to the device.

Valters IT
Securing Your Digital Frontier