Summary
A critical password-handling vulnerability in the D-Link DHP-W610AV can cause a supplied Password value to be stored as an empty password in the device configuration. Because the affected HNAP login functionality may be reachable remotely, an attacker who can invoke the vulnerable processing path could weaken authentication and gain unauthorized access.
A critical password-handling vulnerability in the D-Link DHP-W610AV can cause a supplied Password value to be stored as an empty password in the device configuration. Because the affected HNAP login functionality may be reachable remotely, an attacker who can invoke the vulnerable processing path could weaken authentication and gain unauthorized access.
Affected context
The issue occurs in the D-Link DHP-W610AV 1.02EUb03 firmware, within the HNAP Login component and its login_prepare_hnap function in etc/defnodes/defaultvalue.xml. It becomes risky when remotely supplied password data is processed without ensuring that the resulting configuration contains a non-empty, valid credential.
The issue occurs in the D-Link DHP-W610AV 1.02EUb03 firmware, within the HNAP Login component and its login_prepare_hnap function in etc/defnodes/defaultvalue.xml. It becomes risky when remotely supplied password data is processed without ensuring that the resulting configuration contains a non-empty, valid credential.
Exploit preconditions
- Attack surface: HNAP login functionality exposed through the device's network interface
- Required access: Network connectivity to the affected HNAP processing path; authentication requirements depend on the device's deployment and request handling
- Trigger point: Processing of the
Passwordargument bylogin_prepare_hnap - Why exploitation is possible: Input handling can result in an empty password being written to the configuration rather than rejecting invalid or missing credential data
- Attack surface: HNAP login functionality exposed through the device's network interface
- Required access: Network connectivity to the affected HNAP processing path; authentication requirements depend on the device's deployment and request handling
- Trigger point: Processing of the
Passwordargument bylogin_prepare_hnap - Why exploitation is possible: Input handling can result in an empty password being written to the configuration rather than rejecting invalid or missing credential data
Why this happens
The underlying bug is inadequate validation and secure handling of password input before it is persisted to device configuration. A controllable Password value can produce an empty credential, violating the requirement that authentication secrets be present and valid. This maps primarily to CWE-258: Empty Password, with a related concern under CWE-259: Use of Hard-coded Password, because weak credential configuration can undermine the intended authentication boundary.
The underlying bug is inadequate validation and secure handling of password input before it is persisted to device configuration. A controllable Password value can produce an empty credential, violating the requirement that authentication secrets be present and valid. This maps primarily to CWE-258: Empty Password, with a related concern under CWE-259: Use of Hard-coded Password, because weak credential configuration can undermine the intended authentication boundary.
Potential impact
- An attacker may weaken or bypass device authentication
- Unauthorized users could gain access to administrative or network-management functions
- Device configuration and connected network settings could be modified
- The device could be used to support further access to other systems on the local network
- Availability, confidentiality, or integrity of routed traffic could be affected
- An attacker may weaken or bypass device authentication
- Unauthorized users could gain access to administrative or network-management functions
- Device configuration and connected network settings could be modified
- The device could be used to support further access to other systems on the local network
- Availability, confidentiality, or integrity of routed traffic could be affected
General mitigation guidance
Mitigation generally focuses on preventing empty or invalid credentials from being accepted or persisted.
Common defensive patterns include:
- Rejecting null, empty, whitespace-only, and malformed password values before authentication or configuration updates
- Enforcing server-side credential validation independently of client-side checks
- Preserving an existing valid credential when a replacement value fails validation
- Requiring explicit administrative authorization for password changes
- Limiting HNAP exposure to trusted management networks and applying network segmentation
- Using least privilege for management services and disabling unnecessary remote administration paths
- Recording and alerting on unexpected credential changes
Mitigation generally focuses on preventing empty or invalid credentials from being accepted or persisted.
Common defensive patterns include:
- Rejecting null, empty, whitespace-only, and malformed password values before authentication or configuration updates
- Enforcing server-side credential validation independently of client-side checks
- Preserving an existing valid credential when a replacement value fails validation
- Requiring explicit administrative authorization for password changes
- Limiting HNAP exposure to trusted management networks and applying network segmentation
- Using least privilege for management services and disabling unnecessary remote administration paths
- Recording and alerting on unexpected credential changes
How teams detect issues like this
Organizations can look for this weakness through:
- Static analysis rules that identify password assignments without non-empty validation
- Code review checks for credential updates that accept null, empty, or default values
- Tests covering missing, empty, whitespace-only, and malformed password parameters
- Runtime monitoring for unexpected authentication configuration changes
- Network policy enforcement that restricts HNAP management access to approved sources
- Automated security review tools that flag weak credential validation and externally reachable administration endpoints
Organizations can look for this weakness through:
- Static analysis rules that identify password assignments without non-empty validation
- Code review checks for credential updates that accept null, empty, or default values
- Tests covering missing, empty, whitespace-only, and malformed password parameters
- Runtime monitoring for unexpected authentication configuration changes
- Network policy enforcement that restricts HNAP management access to approved sources
- Automated security review tools that flag weak credential validation and externally reachable administration endpoints
Sources
| Source | Link |
|---|---|
| github. | github.com/ |
| github. | github.com/ |
| vuldb. | vuldb.com/ |
| vuldb. | vuldb.com/ |
| vuldb. | vuldb.com/ |
| vuldb. | vuldb.com/ |
| dlink. | dlink.com/ |
