CVE-2020-24652
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2020-24652 is a critical expression language injection vulnerability in HPE Intelligent Management Center (iMC) that allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code. This affects iMC PLAT versions prior to 7.3 (E0705P07). Attackers can exploit this without authentication to gain full control of affected systems.
💻 Affected Systems
- HPE Intelligent Management Center (iMC)
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete system compromise with attacker gaining administrative privileges, data exfiltration, lateral movement within network, and persistent backdoor installation.
Likely Case
Remote code execution leading to system takeover, credential theft, and deployment of ransomware or other malware.
If Mitigated
Limited impact with proper network segmentation and access controls, potentially only affecting the iMC application itself.
🎯 Exploit Status
The vulnerability is in the addvsiinterfaceinfo functionality and exploitation is straightforward once the attack vector is understood. Public exploit code exists.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: iMC PLAT 7.3 (E0705P07) or later
Vendor Advisory: https://support.hpe.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docLocale=en_US&docId=emr_na-hpesbnw04036en_us
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Download the patch from HPE support portal. 2. Backup current iMC installation. 3. Apply the patch following HPE's installation guide. 4. Restart iMC services. 5. Verify successful update.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Network Access Restriction
allRestrict network access to iMC management interface to trusted IP addresses only
# Example firewall rule (Linux iptables): iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport [iMC_PORT] -s [TRUSTED_IP] -j ACCEPT
# Windows firewall: New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "Restrict iMC Access" -Direction Inbound -LocalPort [iMC_PORT] -RemoteAddress [TRUSTED_IP] -Action Allow
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Immediately isolate affected iMC systems from internet and restrict network access to management interfaces
- Implement application-level WAF rules to block expression language injection patterns
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check iMC version via web interface (Help → About) or command line: On Windows: check iMC installation directory version files. On Linux: check /opt/iMC/version or similar.Check Version:
On Windows: type "%IMC_HOME%\client\conf\version.properties" | findstr "version". On Linux: cat /opt/iMC/client/conf/version.properties | grep versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify version is iMC PLAT 7.3 (E0705P07) or later. Test the addvsiinterfaceinfo functionality with safe payloads.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual requests to addvsiinterfaceinfo endpoints
- Expression language patterns in HTTP requests (${, #{, etc.)
- Unexpected process execution from iMC service account
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests containing expression language syntax to iMC management ports
- Outbound connections from iMC server to unexpected destinations
SIEM Query:
source="iMC_logs" AND ("addvsiinterfaceinfo" OR "${*}" OR "#{*}")