A new and critical zero-day vulnerability, CVE-2024-11120, is being actively exploited by a botnet targeting end-of-life GeoVision devices. This vulnerability, identified by Piotr Kijewski from The Shadowserver Foundation, allows attackers to execute arbitrary system commands on the affected devices remotely, without the need for authentication. The flaw impacts a range of GeoVision products, including video servers, digital video recorders (DVRs), and license plate recognition systems. These devices have reached the end of their support lifecycle, meaning they no longer receive security updates from the vendor, leaving them highly vulnerable to exploitation.
The primary targets of this exploit are devices such as the GV-VS12, GV-VS11, and GV-LX4C series, which are used for video streaming and surveillance. These systems are often connected to the internet, making them susceptible to remote attacks. Once compromised, the devices can be hijacked and added to a botnet, where they are used for nefarious activities like distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks or cryptomining. Experts believe the botnet being used is a variant of the notorious Mirai botnet, a malware platform that has previously been used in large-scale DDoS attacks.
Reports indicate that approximately 17,000 GeoVision devices worldwide are exposed and vulnerable to this flaw, with the largest concentration in the United States. Other affected countries include Germany, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, Spain, and France. The widespread presence of these vulnerable devices presents a significant threat, as botnet operators can exploit them for various malicious purposes, including disrupting services or stealing computational resources for cryptomining. Indicators of compromise include devices becoming slow, unresponsive, or overheating, often accompanied by changes to their configurations without user consent.
To mitigate the risks posed by this vulnerability, experts recommend that users immediately secure any exposed devices. Affected device owners should reset the default admin passwords, disable remote access, and isolate devices behind a firewall to prevent further exploitation.
