CVE-2025-26488
📋 TL;DR
An improper input validation vulnerability in Infinera MTC-9 allows remote unauthenticated attackers to send crafted XML payloads that crash the service and cause the appliance to reboot, resulting in a denial of service condition. This affects all MTC-9 systems running versions from R22.1.1.0275 up to but not including R23.0.
💻 Affected Systems
- Infinera MTC-9
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Sustained DoS attacks could render the appliance completely unavailable, disrupting network operations and potentially causing cascading failures in dependent systems.
Likely Case
Intermittent service crashes and reboots causing temporary service disruption and potential data loss during the reboot process.
If Mitigated
With proper network segmentation and access controls, the impact is limited to temporary service disruption for authorized users only.
🎯 Exploit Status
The vulnerability requires sending crafted XML payloads to the vulnerable service. No authentication is required.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: R23.0 or later
Vendor Advisory: https://www.cvcn.gov.it/cvcn/cve/CVE-2025-26488
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Download R23.0 or later firmware from Infinera support portal. 2. Backup current configuration. 3. Apply firmware update following Infinera documentation. 4. Reboot appliance. 5. Verify version is R23.0 or later.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Network Access Restriction
allRestrict network access to the MTC-9 XML service interface to only trusted management networks.
XML Input Validation
allImplement network-level XML validation or filtering using WAF or similar security controls.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict network segmentation to isolate MTC-9 from untrusted networks
- Deploy intrusion prevention systems with XML payload inspection capabilities
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check current firmware version via MTC-9 web interface or CLI. If version is between R22.1.1.0275 and R23.0 (exclusive), the system is vulnerable.Check Version:
show version (CLI) or check System Information in web interfaceVerify Fix Applied:
After patching, verify firmware version is R23.0 or later and test XML service functionality.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unexpected service crashes
- System reboot events
- Malformed XML parsing errors
Network Indicators:
- Unusual XML payloads to MTC-9 service ports
- High volume of XML requests from single sources
SIEM Query:
source="MTC-9" AND (event="crash" OR event="reboot" OR message="*XML*error*")