CVE-2017-18823

Vulnerability

NETGEAR M4300 and M4200 series fully managed switches running firmware versions prior to 12.0.2.15 contain a security misconfiguration vulnerability [1]. The affected models include M4300-28G, M4300-52G, M4300-28G-POE+, M4300-52G-POE+, M4300-8X8F, M4300-12X12F, M4300-24X24F, M4300-24X, M4300-48X, and M4200. The incorrect configuration of security settings exposes the devices to potential compromise.

Exploitation

An attacker with local network access (AV:L) can exploit this vulnerability without requiring any privileges or user interaction [1]. The exact exploitation steps are not detailed in the advisory, but the low attack complexity (AC:L) suggests that the misconfiguration can be leveraged directly.

Impact

Successful exploitation allows the attacker to compromise the integrity and availability of the affected switch, with no impact on confidentiality (CVSS: C:N/I:H/A:H) [1]. This could lead to unauthorized changes to device configuration or denial of service.

Mitigation

NETGEAR has released firmware version 12.0.2.15 to address this vulnerability [1]. Users are strongly recommended to upgrade to this version or later. No workarounds are provided. The vulnerability is not listed in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.