HPE Aruba Networking has released a critical security advisory for April 2024 that details significant vulnerabilities in its proprietary network operating system, ArubaOS. The advisory identifies ten vulnerabilities, four of which are particularly severe with a CVSS v3.1 score of 9.8. These critical vulnerabilities are unauthenticated buffer overflow issues that could lead to remote code execution (RCE), posing substantial risks to network integrity and security. The impacted products include a range of devices managed by Aruba Central, such as HPE Aruba Networking Mobility Conductor, Mobility Controllers, WLAN Gateways, and SD-WAN Gateways.
The specific critical vulnerabilities identified are CVE-2024-26305, CVE-2024-26304, CVE-2024-33511, and CVE-2024-33512. These flaws mainly exploit weaknesses in the handling of packets sent to the PAPI (Aruba’s access point management protocol) UDP port, which could allow attackers to execute arbitrary code remotely without authentication. The vulnerabilities affect several versions of ArubaOS including 10.5.1.0 and below, 10.4.1.0 and older, as well as all versions that have reached end of life (EoL). This widespread vulnerability coverage highlights the critical nature of the flaws and the broad potential impact on network operations.
To address these vulnerabilities, HPE Aruba recommends that system administrators enable Enhanced PAPI Security features and upgrade to the latest patched versions of ArubaOS. The target upgrade versions provided to mitigate these vulnerabilities include ArubaOS 10.6.0.0, 10.5.1.1, 10.4.1.1, 8.11.2.2, and 8.10.0.11, among others. These updates not only address the critical vulnerabilities but also resolve six additional medium-severity vulnerabilities that could lead to denial of service attacks, further emphasizing the importance of updating the affected systems promptly.
Despite the severity of these vulnerabilities, there have been no reports of active exploitation or the existence of any proof-of-concept (PoC) exploits as of the advisory’s publication. Nevertheless, the potential for such high-severity vulnerabilities to be exploited makes it essential for administrators to apply the security updates as soon as possible to secure their networks against potential attacks. The advisory serves as a critical reminder of the ongoing need for vigilance and proactive security measures in network management.
