CVE-2023-24509
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability allows an existing unprivileged user with valid credentials to log into the standby supervisor module as root, leading to privilege escalation on affected Arista EOS platforms. It affects modular platforms running Arista EOS with redundant supervisor modules configured with RPR or SSO redundancy protocols. Attackers need valid user credentials to exploit this vulnerability.
💻 Affected Systems
- Arista EOS (Extensible Operating System)
📦 What is this software?
Eos by Arista
Eos by Arista
Eos by Arista
Eos by Arista
Eos by Arista
Eos by Arista
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete compromise of network infrastructure with root access to standby supervisor, potentially allowing persistence, configuration changes, traffic interception, and lateral movement to other network devices.
Likely Case
Privilege escalation from unprivileged user to root on standby supervisor, enabling unauthorized configuration changes, monitoring of network traffic, and potential disruption of redundancy failover mechanisms.
If Mitigated
Limited impact if proper access controls, network segmentation, and monitoring are in place, though the vulnerability still provides unauthorized root access to standby supervisor.
🎯 Exploit Status
Requires valid user credentials and access to affected configuration. Exploitation is straightforward once credentials are obtained.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Multiple fixed versions available - see Arista advisory for specific version mappings
Vendor Advisory: https://www.arista.com/en/support/advisories-notices/security-advisory/16985-security-advisory-0082
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Review Arista advisory for specific fixed versions for your platform. 2. Schedule maintenance window. 3. Upgrade standby supervisor first. 4. Perform switchover. 5. Upgrade former active supervisor. 6. Verify redundancy operation.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable redundant supervisor configuration
allRemove RPR or SSO redundancy configuration to eliminate vulnerability vector
configure
no redundancy
write memory
Restrict access to management interfaces
allImplement strict access controls and network segmentation for management interfaces
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict access controls and monitor all authentication attempts to management interfaces
- Segment management network and restrict access to only authorized administrators using jump hosts or bastion servers
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check if platform has redundant supervisors with RPR or SSO configured: 'show redundancy' and verify EOS version against affected versions in Arista advisoryCheck Version:
show version | include Software image versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify EOS version is updated to fixed version: 'show version' and confirm redundancy configuration still functions properly📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unexpected root logins on standby supervisor
- Authentication events from non-admin users on standby supervisor
- Configuration changes from standby supervisor
Network Indicators:
- Management traffic to standby supervisor from unexpected sources
- SSH/Telnet connections to standby supervisor management interfaces
SIEM Query:
source="arista-switch" AND (event_type="authentication" AND user="root" AND supervisor="standby") OR (event_type="configuration_change" AND source="standby_supervisor")