CVE-2025-57784
📋 TL;DR
A timing attack vulnerability exists in Hiawatha webserver version 11.7's Tomahawk management client authentication due to use of strcmp for password comparison. This allows a local attacker to potentially brute-force authentication credentials by measuring response time differences. Only systems with the Tomahawk management client enabled and accessible locally are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- Hiawatha webserver
📦 What is this software?
Hiawatha by Hiawatha Webserver
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Local attacker gains unauthorized access to the Tomahawk management client, potentially allowing configuration changes, service disruption, or further privilege escalation.
Likely Case
Local attacker with sufficient time and access could eventually guess authentication credentials through timing analysis, gaining management access.
If Mitigated
With proper network segmentation and access controls, the attack surface is limited to authorized local users only.
🎯 Exploit Status
Requires local access and ability to measure timing differences with high precision. Attack success depends on network conditions and attacker capabilities.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Version after 11.7 (check latest release)
Vendor Advisory: https://gitlab.com/hsleisink/hiawatha/-/blame/master/src/tomahawk.c?ref_type=heads#L429
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Check current Hiawatha version. 2. Update to latest version from official repository. 3. Restart Hiawatha service. 4. Verify Tomahawk authentication uses constant-time comparison.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable Tomahawk management client
linuxIf Tomahawk management is not required, disable it completely to eliminate the attack surface.
Edit Hiawatha configuration file and remove/comment Tomahawk configuration
Restart Hiawatha: systemctl restart hiawatha
Restrict network access
linuxLimit access to Tomahawk management interface to trusted IP addresses only.
Configure firewall rules to restrict access to Tomahawk port (default 8080)
Use iptables or similar to allow only specific IPs
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Disable Tomahawk management client if not required
- Implement strict network segmentation and access controls to limit who can reach the management interface
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Hiawatha version: hiawatha -v. If version is 11.7 and Tomahawk is enabled, system is vulnerable.Check Version:
hiawatha -vVerify Fix Applied:
After update, verify version is >11.7 and test authentication response times show no correlation with password correctness.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Multiple failed authentication attempts to Tomahawk interface
- Unusual timing patterns in authentication requests
Network Indicators:
- Multiple rapid authentication attempts from single source
- Unusual traffic patterns to management port
SIEM Query:
source="hiawatha.log" AND "authentication failed" AND "tomahawk" | stats count by src_ip