CVE-2024-51978
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2024-51978 is a critical-severity Use of Weak Credentials (CWE-1391) vulnerability in Brother (inferred from references). Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Default Accounts (T1078.001); ranked in the top 2% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to IA-5 (Authenticator Management) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
The vulnerability CVE-2024-51978 allows an unauthenticated attacker to generate the default administrator password on affected devices simply by knowing the target serial number. It is tracked under CWE-1391 and carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 9.8, reflecting network-accessible exploitation with no required credentials or user interaction. The issue impacts Brother devices that rely on predictable default credentials derived from serial numbers.
An attacker can first obtain the serial number through the related flaw CVE-2024-51977 over HTTP, HTTPS, or IPP, or by sending PJL or SNMP requests, then compute the corresponding default administrator password to achieve full administrative access.
Vendor advisories and a detailed disclosure whitepaper hosted by Brother outline mitigation steps, while public references include a Nuclei detection template and a Metasploit module that demonstrate the issue.
The EPSS score has reached 0.5360 with matching peak value, and multiple public exploit implementations have been published.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2024-54698
Vulnerability Data
An unauthenticated attacker who knows the target device's serial number, can generate the default administrator password for the device. An unauthenticated attacker can first discover the target device's serial number via CVE-2024-51977 over HTTP/HTTPS/IPP, or via a PJL request, or…
more
via an SNMP request.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 7 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
V6.2.2V6.3.1V6.3.2V6.4.2
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
IA-5 directly requires management of authenticator strength, distribution, and replacement, stopping default or guessable credentials from being introduced or used.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
PR.AA-01's credential issuance and key-management processes directly block most weak/default credential usage, yet leave hard-coded or product-design instances of CWE-1391 only partially addressed.
Password-strength policies in PR.AA-03 directly block weak authenticators, but the control leaves hard-coded/default credentials largely unaddressed.
Hardened baselines and default-setting reviews directly block default/hard-coded creds (mostly), yet leave algorithmic guessing, reuse, and non-config sources of weak credentials untouched (partial).
Training raises password-hygiene awareness and can therefore reduce some weak-credential mistakes, yet supplies no enforcement mechanism and leaves the dominant technical sources of CWE-1391 untouched.
Role-based awareness training can reduce the chance developers or admins introduce weak credentials but supplies no enforcement or verification, leaving the bulk of CWE-1391 risk untouched.
Maintenance/patching can incidentally remove known weak-default creds in updated versions (partial forward) but does nothing to ensure credentials are strong at design, deployment or config time (none reverse).
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Directly requires secure generation, distribution and storage of authentication credentials, eliminating default/hard-coded weak passwords.
Mandates secure authentication mechanisms that preclude use of weak or default credentials.
Secure-coding rules can prohibit hard-coded passwords, yet coverage depends on specific coding standards adopted.
Security testing can discover weak credentials, but does not guarantee they are prevented by design.
Enforces secure baseline configurations that should remove default credentials, yet does not guarantee credential strength.
Restricts privileged accounts but does not explicitly address default or hard-coded credentials for those accounts.
Hardening callouts derived
Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).
Oracle Linux 8 (3 rules)
- V-248667 OL 8 must configure the use of the pam_faillock.so module in the /etc/pam.d/system-auth file. prevents CWE-1391
- V-248668 OL 8 must configure the use of the pam_faillock.so module in the /etc/pam.d/password-auth file. prevents CWE-1391
- V-248827 OL 8 must not have the rsh-server package installed. prevents CWE-1391
RHEL 7 (1 rule)
- V-204442 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must not have the rsh-server package installed. prevents CWE-1391
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
- V-244533 RHEL 8 must configure the use of the pam_faillock.so module in the /etc/pam.d/system-auth file. prevents CWE-1391