Fortinet Discovers Asus Routers Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Summary

Fortinet's FortiGuard Labs has discovered a remote code execution vulnerability in some routers shipped by the company Asus.


Asus manufactures a series of network routers directly competing with Linksys routers from Belkin.


A malicious user can forge a HTTP request to inject operating system commands that can be executed on the device with higher privileges.

Solutions

FortiGuard Labs released the following FortiGate IPS signature which covers this specific vulnerability:

Asus.Apply.CGI.POST.Remote.Code.Execution
Released Dec 28, 2017

Users should apply the solution provided by Asus.

Timeline

Fortinet reported the vulnerability to Asus on December 23, 2017.
Asus confirmed the vulnerability on December 27, 2017.
Asus patched the vulnerability on January 2, 2018.

Acknowledgement

This vulnerability was discovered by David Maciejak of Fortinet's FortiGuard Labs.

IPS Subscription

Fortinet customers who subscribe to Fortinet's intrusion prevention (IPS) service should be protected against this vulnerability with the appropriate configuration parameters in place. Fortinet's IPS service is one component of FortiGuard Subscription Services, which also offer comprehensive solutions such as antivirus, Web content filtering and antispam capabilities. These services enable protection against threats on both application and network layers. FortiGuard Services are continuously updated by FortiGuard Labs, which enables Fortinet to deliver a combination of multi-layered security intelligence and true zero-day protection from new and emerging threats. These updates are delivered to all FortiGate, FortiMail and FortiClient products. Fortinet strictly follows responsible disclosure guidelines to ensure optimum protection during a threat's lifecycle.