CVE-2015-2202
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability allows administrative users of Aruba AirWave management systems to escalate their privileges to root on the underlying operating system. It affects organizations using Aruba AirWave versions before 7.7.14.2 and 8.x before 8.0.7 for network management.
💻 Affected Systems
- Aruba AirWave
📦 What is this software?
Airwave by Arubanetworks
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
An attacker with administrative access gains complete control over the AirWave system and underlying OS, enabling data theft, system compromise, and lateral movement to other network systems.
Likely Case
Malicious insider or compromised admin account escalates to root, potentially disrupting network management and accessing sensitive configuration data.
If Mitigated
With proper access controls and monitoring, impact is limited to authorized administrative users who might misuse their elevated privileges.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires administrative credentials but is straightforward once authenticated.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 7.7.14.2 or 8.0.7
Vendor Advisory: https://www.arubanetworks.com/assets/alert/ARUBA-PSA-2015-005.txt
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Download appropriate patch from Aruba support portal. 2. Backup current configuration. 3. Apply patch following Aruba documentation. 4. Restart AirWave services.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Restrict Administrative Access
allLimit administrative accounts to only trusted personnel and implement strong authentication.
Network Segmentation
allIsolate AirWave management interface from general network access.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict access controls and monitoring for administrative accounts
- Segment AirWave system and limit network exposure
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check AirWave version in web interface under Help > About or via CLI command 'amp_version'Check Version:
ssh admin@airwave-host 'amp_version'Verify Fix Applied:
Verify version is 7.7.14.2 or higher for 7.x, or 8.0.7 or higher for 8.x📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual privilege escalation attempts in system logs
- Administrative user performing unexpected root-level operations
Network Indicators:
- Unexpected SSH or administrative connections to AirWave system
SIEM Query:
source="airwave" AND (event="privilege_escalation" OR user="root")