CVE-2025-34198
Published: 19 September 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-34198 is a critical-severity Use of Hard-coded Credentials (CWE-798) vulnerability in Vasion Virtual Appliance Application. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Adversary-in-the-Middle (T1557); ranked at the 45.2th 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 IA-5 (Authenticator Management) and SC-12 (Cryptographic Key Establishment and Management).
Threat & Defense at a Glance
Threat & Defense Details
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI
SC-12 requires establishment and management of cryptographic keys per organizational requirements, directly preventing shared hardcoded SSH host private keys by mandating unique generation and secure handling for each appliance.
IA-5 mandates management of authenticators including SSH host private keys, ensuring they are uniquely generated, protected from disclosure, and not hardcoded or shared across installations.
SI-2 requires timely flaw remediation through vendor upgrades (e.g., to versions 22.0.951+ and 20.0.2368+), which regenerate unique SSH keys and eliminate the hardcoded credential vulnerability.
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Hardcoded shared SSH host private keys enable man-in-the-middle attacks (T1557) and SSH session hijacking via server impersonation (T1563.001).
NVD Description
Vasion Print (formerly PrinterLogic) Virtual Appliance Host versions prior to 22.0.951 and Application prior to 20.0.2368 (VA and SaaS deployments) contain shared, hardcoded SSH host private keys in the appliance image. The same private host keys (RSA, ECDSA, and ED25519)…
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are present across installations, rather than being uniquely generated per appliance. An attacker who obtains these private keys (for example from one compromised appliance image or another installation) can impersonate the appliance, decrypt or intercept SSH connections to appliances that use the same keys, and perform man-in-the-middle or impersonation attacks against administrative SSH sessions. This vulnerability has been identified by the vendor as: V-2024-011 — Hardcoded SSH Host Key.
Deeper analysisAI
CVE-2025-34198 affects Vasion Print (formerly PrinterLogic) Virtual Appliance Host versions prior to 22.0.951 and Application versions prior to 20.0.2368, impacting both Virtual Appliance (VA) and SaaS deployments. The vulnerability involves shared, hardcoded SSH host private keys (RSA, ECDSA, and ED25519) embedded in the appliance image, which are identical across all installations instead of being uniquely generated per instance. This violates CWE-798 (Use of Hard-coded Credentials) and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), indicating critical severity due to high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts.
Any attacker who obtains these private keys—for instance, by compromising a single appliance image or another installation—can exploit the flaw remotely with no privileges or user interaction required. Successful exploitation enables impersonation of the appliance, decryption or interception of SSH connections to any affected instance using the same keys, and man-in-the-middle (MITM) or impersonation attacks against administrative SSH sessions.
Vendor security bulletins detail mitigation steps, available at https://help.printerlogic.com/saas/Print/Security/Security-Bulletins.htm and https://help.printerlogic.com/va/Print/Security/Security-Bulletins.htm, which identify the issue as V-2024-011 (Hardcoded SSH Host Key). Upgrading to Virtual Appliance Host version 22.0.951 or later and Application version 20.0.2368 or later regenerates unique keys, resolving the vulnerability. Additional analysis is provided in advisories from VulnCheck (https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/vasion-print-printerlogic-shared-hardcoded-ssh-host-private-keys-in-appliance-image) and researcher Pierre Kim (https://pierrekim.github.io/blog/2025-04-08-vasion-printerlogic-83-vulnerabilities.html#va-hardcoded-ssh-keys).
Details
- CWE(s)