Skip to main content

CVE-2017-9248Progress Telerik UI for ASP.NET AJAX and Sitefinity Cryptographic Weakness Vulnerability

Patch nowCritical9.8Exploited, CISA due date 2022-05-03EPSS 75%, higher than 100% of scored CVEs

CVE-2017-9248 is a insufficiently protected credentials in Progress ASP.NET AJAX and Sitefinity, rated critical (9.8 on CVSS 3.1).

Why this priority: Exploited in the wild: listed in CISA's KEV catalog.

Published · Updated · NVD status: Analyzed

What it is

Credentials are stored or sent in a way others can recover.

How it is reached

An attacker can exploit it over the network, without an account, and nobody has to click anything.

What an attacker gains

A successful attack can read the data it protects, change data or behaviour and take it offline. In practice, this kind of flaw lets an attacker sign in with credentials the vendor shipped or stored unprotected.

Is it being exploited?

CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2021-11-03: it is being exploited in the wild. It can be exploited automatically, at scale. EPSS estimates a 75% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 100% of scored CVEs.

What to do

  1. Treat it as urgent: it is on CISA's KEV list. CISA's deadline for US federal agencies: 2022-05-03.
  2. Upgrade Progress ASP.NET AJAX and Sitefinity to 10.0.6412.0 or later.
  3. Until it is patched, keep it off the internet or behind a VPN, allowlist or authenticating proxy.
  4. Check exposed instances for signs of compromise, not only for the version.

Description from NVD

Telerik.Web.UI.dll in Progress Telerik UI for ASP.NET AJAX before R2 2017 SP1 and Sitefinity before 10.0.6412.0 does not properly protect Telerik.Web.UI.DialogParametersEncryptionKey or the MachineKey, which makes it easier for remote attackers to defeat cryptographic protection mechanisms, leading to a MachineKey leak, arbitrary file uploads or downloads, XSS, or ASP.NET ViewState compromise.

What this means for your architecture.

A CVE names a product. Whether it matters depends on where that product sits in your systems: what reaches it, which trust boundary it guards and what it can reach once compromised. Veriom maps your components, their relationships and your trust boundaries from your code, cloud and delivery evidence, so you can see where a component like this sits. The radar itself does not look at your systems.

Components it touches

  • Credentials kept in code, configuration, images or firmware. The flaw sits between a stored secret and anyone who can read where it is kept.

Trust boundaries in play

  • Internet-facing entry points. No account is needed. Any instance reachable from outside your perimeter, through a load balancer, gateway, VPN or exposed admin port, is in scope.
  • Between a stored secret and anyone who can read where it is kept. An attacker who crosses it can sign in with credentials the vendor shipped or stored unprotected.

Questions to answer about your own systems

  • Where does Progress ASP.NET AJAX and Sitefinity run in your systems, and at which version?
  • Which of those instances can be reached from the internet or partner networks?
  • What can it reach once compromised: which data stores, secrets and services?

Sources

  • CVE records and CVSS scores from the NVD CVE API. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
  • Exploitation status from CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
  • Exploit likelihood from FIRST’s Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), refreshed daily.
  • Explanations are written by Veriom from fixed templates over each record’s data, not by a person reviewing each CVE. Descriptions are quoted from the records as published.