The Sophos Web Appliance Remote / Secure Web Gateway server (version 4.2.1.3) is vulnerable to a Remote Command Injection vulnerability in its web administrative interface. These vulnerabilities occur in MgrDiagnosticTools.php (/controllers/MgrDiagnosticTools.php), in the component responsible for performing diagnostic tests with the UNIX wget utility. The application doesn't properly escape the information passed in the 'url' variable before calling the executeCommand class function ($this->dtObj->executeCommand). This function calls exec() with unsanitized user input allowing for remote command injection. The page that contains the vulnerabilities, /controllers/MgrDiagnosticTools.php, is accessed by a built-in command answered by the administrative interface. The command that calls to that vulnerable page (passed in the 'section' parameter) is: 'configuration'. Exploitation of this vulnerability yields shell access to the remote machine under the 'spiderman' user account.
This vulnerability carries a HIGH severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 7.2, indicating it can be exploited remotely over the network with relatively low complexity without requiring user interaction . The vulnerability impacts confidentiality (data exposure), integrity (unauthorized modifications), and availability (service disruption) for affected systems. Impacting 1 product from sophos organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.
First disclosed in 2017, this vulnerability was reported during a period defined by widespread IoT adoption challenges, mobile security concerns, and the emergence of advanced persistent threat (APT) techniques. Contemporary mitigation strategies focused on secure development practices and third-party component vetting.
2017-01-28T12:59:00.180
2025-04-20T01:37:25.860
Deferred
CVSSv3.0: 7.2 (HIGH)
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:C/I:C/A:C
8.0
10.0
| Type | Vendor | Product | Version/Range | Vulnerable? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Application | sophos | web_appliance | 4.2.1.3 | Yes |
SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For sophos's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.