CVE-2024-12686: BeyondTrust PRA RCE Vulnerability

CVE-2024-12686 Overview

A command injection vulnerability has been discovered in BeyondTrust's Privileged Remote Access (PRA) and Remote Support (RS) products. This security flaw allows attackers who have already obtained administrative privileges to inject and execute arbitrary commands within the context of a site user. The vulnerability is classified as CWE-78 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command), indicating that user-supplied input is not properly sanitized before being passed to system command execution functions.

Critical Impact

This vulnerability is actively exploited in the wild and has been added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog. Organizations using affected BeyondTrust products should prioritize remediation immediately.

Affected Products

• BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access (PRA)
• BeyondTrust Remote Support (RS)

Discovery Timeline

• 2024-12-18 - CVE-2024-12686 published to NVD
• 2025-10-24 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-12686

Vulnerability Analysis

CVE-2024-12686 is a post-authentication command injection vulnerability affecting BeyondTrust's remote access solutions. The flaw exists in how the application processes administrative input, allowing specially crafted requests to inject operating system commands that execute with the privileges of the site user account. This vulnerability requires the attacker to first compromise an administrative account, which positions it as a privilege escalation vector rather than an initial access technique.

The network-accessible nature of the vulnerability means attackers can exploit it remotely once they have obtained valid administrative credentials. Since no user interaction is required beyond the attacker's own actions, exploitation can be automated and executed silently. The impact encompasses complete compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the affected system, as arbitrary command execution enables data exfiltration, system modification, and service disruption.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability lies in improper neutralization of special elements used in operating system commands (CWE-78). The affected BeyondTrust products fail to adequately sanitize or validate input from administrative users before incorporating it into system-level command execution. This allows metacharacters and command separators to be interpreted by the underlying shell, enabling command chaining and injection attacks.

Attack Vector

The attack requires network access to the BeyondTrust PRA or RS administrative interface. An attacker must first obtain valid administrative credentials through credential theft, phishing, or exploitation of another vulnerability. Once authenticated as an administrator, the attacker can craft malicious input containing OS command injection payloads. These payloads bypass input validation and are executed by the system with the privileges of the site user account.

The exploitation flow typically involves:

1. Compromising or obtaining administrative credentials for the BeyondTrust platform
2. Authenticating to the administrative interface
3. Submitting crafted input containing command injection sequences
4. Commands execute in the context of the site user, potentially allowing further lateral movement or data access

For technical details on the vulnerability mechanism, refer to the BeyondTrust Security Advisory BT24-11.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-12686

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected command execution or shell spawning from BeyondTrust application processes
• Anomalous administrative login patterns or authentication from unusual IP addresses
• Evidence of command injection characters (;, |, &&, ||, backticks) in application logs or request parameters
• Unusual outbound network connections originating from the BeyondTrust server
• New or modified files in application directories or sensitive system locations

Detection Strategies

• Monitor BeyondTrust application logs for administrative actions containing shell metacharacters or command injection patterns
• Implement network traffic analysis to detect anomalous command-and-control communications from BeyondTrust servers
• Deploy endpoint detection rules to alert on unexpected child processes spawned by BeyondTrust services
• Audit administrative authentication events for signs of credential compromise or unauthorized access

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable comprehensive logging for all administrative actions within BeyondTrust PRA and RS
• Configure SIEM alerts for command injection indicators in web application firewall (WAF) logs
• Implement file integrity monitoring on BeyondTrust installation directories
• Establish baseline behavior for BeyondTrust processes and alert on deviations

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-12686

Immediate Actions Required

• Apply the latest security patches from BeyondTrust as documented in security advisory BT24-11
• Review administrative account access and reset credentials for all privileged accounts
• Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all administrative access to BeyondTrust products
• Restrict network access to administrative interfaces using firewall rules or network segmentation
• Audit logs for signs of prior exploitation and investigate any suspicious administrative activity

Patch Information

BeyondTrust has released security updates to address this vulnerability. Organizations should immediately consult the BeyondTrust Security Advisory BT24-11 for specific patch versions and upgrade instructions. Given that this vulnerability is listed in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, federal agencies and critical infrastructure operators are mandated to apply remediation within specified timeframes.

Workarounds

• Implement strict network segmentation to limit access to BeyondTrust administrative interfaces to trusted networks only
• Deploy a web application firewall (WAF) with command injection detection rules in front of BeyondTrust services
• Enforce the principle of least privilege by limiting the number of administrative accounts
• Monitor and alert on all administrative authentication events until patches are applied
• Consider temporarily disabling remote administrative access if not operationally critical

# Example: Restrict administrative interface access via firewall
# Limit access to BeyondTrust admin interface to specific trusted IP ranges
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 443 -s 10.0.0.0/8 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 443 -j DROP

# Review administrative accounts in BeyondTrust
# Consult BeyondTrust documentation for specific commands to audit admin users