CVE-2024-46429
Published: 10 February 2025
Summary
CVE-2024-46429 is a high-severity Use of Hard-coded Credentials (CWE-798) vulnerability in Tenda W18E Firmware. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).
Operationally, ranked at the 42.1th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 AC-2 (Account Management) and CM-6 (Configuration Settings).
Threat & Defense at a Glance
Threat & Defense Details
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI
AC-2 mandates management of system accounts, including disabling unnecessary default accounts like the hardcoded guest account with administrative privileges.
IA-5 requires proper management of authenticators, preventing the use of hardcoded or default credentials that enable unauthenticated access.
CM-6 enforces secure configuration settings, such as changing default credentials and restricting access to the web management portal.
NVD Description
A hardcoded credentials vulnerability in Tenda W18E V16.01.0.8(1625) allows unauthenticated remote attackers to access the web management portal using a default guest account with administrative privileges.
Deeper analysisAI
CVE-2024-46429 is a hardcoded credentials vulnerability (CWE-798) affecting the Tenda W18E router running firmware version V16.01.0.8(1625). The issue stems from a default guest account that grants administrative privileges to the web management portal, enabling unauthenticated remote access without requiring authentication.
Attackers on an adjacent network (AV:A) can exploit this vulnerability with low complexity (AC:L) and no privileges (PR:N), requiring no user interaction (UI:N). Successful exploitation provides high-impact access to confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:H/I:H/A:H), with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.8. This allows full administrative control over the device, potentially leading to further network compromise.
Mitigation details are available in the security research advisory at https://reddassolutions.com/blog/tenda_w18e_security_research, published on 2025-02-10.
Details
- CWE(s)