CVE-2024-12356
About
A critical vulnerability has been discovered in Privileged Remote Access (PRA) and Remote Support (RS) products which can allow an unauthenticated attacker to inject commands that are run as a site user.
Rainforest analyst review
BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access and Remote Support contain a command-injection flaw that lets an unauthenticated attacker inject commands executed as a site user. Attacker-controlled input reaches a command context without adequate validation, so a crafted request runs code on the appliance without credentials or interaction. In practice it was chained with a second BeyondTrust bug to reach full compromise of the hosted instances.
These products exist to broker privileged remote access, they hold the credentials and sessions that administrators and vendors use to reach sensitive internal systems, so compromising the broker is a route to everything it fronts. This was the vulnerability behind the December 2024 breach of BeyondTrust's Remote Support SaaS, in which threat actors, reported as linked to Chinese state operations, stole an API key and pivoted into U.S. Treasury workstations; it is on CISA's KEV list. Apply BeyondTrust's patches immediately, including for self-hosted instances. Because a signing/API key was abused in the real incident, rotate credentials and API keys associated with the product and hunt for anomalous remote sessions rather than treating patching as the end of the response.
References
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-12356
- https://www.beyondtrust.com/trust-center/security-advisories/bt24-10
- https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-12356
- https://attackerkb.com/topics/G5s8ZWAbYH/cve-2024-12356/rapid7-analysis
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2024-12356
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Frequently asked questions
What is CVE-2024-12356?
A critical vulnerability has been discovered in Privileged Remote Access (PRA) and Remote Support (RS) products which can allow an unauthenticated attacker to inject commands that are run as a site user.
How severe is CVE-2024-12356?
CVE-2024-12356 carries a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8, rated critical. On the Rainforest Risk Index — which weighs the severity alongside how easy the flaw is to reach and how broad its impact is — it scores 99 out of 100, in the critical band.
How is CVE-2024-12356 exploited?
According to the CVSS vector (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H): attack vector Network, attack complexity Low, privileges required None, user interaction None. Impact on confidentiality High, integrity High and availability High.
Which products are affected by CVE-2024-12356?
Public advisories list the following as affected: privileged remote access, remote support. Check the references on this page for the exact versions each vendor confirms.
How do I fix CVE-2024-12356?
Apply the fix the vendor published — the references on this page link to the primary advisories and patches. When patching can't happen right away, reduce the exposure of the affected component and watch it for exploitation attempts. Rainforest customers see this vulnerability correlated to their own assets and prioritized by real exposure, not by score alone.
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