CVE-2024-1839: Intrado 911 Emergency Gateway SQLi Flaw

CVE-2024-1839 Overview

CVE-2024-1839 is a critical blind time-based SQL injection vulnerability affecting the Intrado 911 Emergency Gateway login form. This unauthenticated vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute malicious code, exfiltrate sensitive data, or manipulate the underlying database without requiring any prior authentication or user interaction.

The vulnerability exists in the login form of the 911 Emergency Gateway, which is a critical component used in emergency services infrastructure. Given the sensitive nature of 911 emergency systems and the complete lack of authentication requirements for exploitation, this vulnerability poses an extreme risk to public safety communications.

Critical Impact

Unauthenticated attackers can exploit this SQL injection vulnerability to compromise 911 emergency gateway systems, potentially disrupting emergency services and exposing sensitive emergency response data.

Affected Products

• Intrado 911 Emergency Gateway Firmware
• Intrado 911 Emergency Gateway (Hardware)

Discovery Timeline

• June 26, 2024 - CVE-2024-1839 published to NVD
• September 26, 2025 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-1839

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability is classified as CWE-89 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command), commonly known as SQL Injection. The flaw resides in the login form of the Intrado 911 Emergency Gateway, where user-supplied input is not properly sanitized before being incorporated into SQL queries.

The blind time-based nature of this SQL injection means that attackers cannot directly observe query results but can infer information by measuring response times. By injecting time-delay functions into SQL queries, attackers can systematically extract database contents character by character, bypass authentication mechanisms, or execute arbitrary database commands.

The network-accessible attack vector combined with no authentication requirements makes this vulnerability particularly dangerous in production emergency services environments. Successful exploitation could lead to complete compromise of the emergency gateway system, including access to sensitive emergency call data, system configurations, and potentially the ability to disrupt 911 services.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability is improper input validation and lack of parameterized queries in the login form handling code. When processing user credentials, the application directly concatenates user-supplied input into SQL statements without proper sanitization or the use of prepared statements. This allows attackers to inject malicious SQL syntax that alters the intended query logic.

The absence of input validation allows special SQL characters and syntax to pass through to the database engine, enabling attackers to manipulate query execution flow, extract data, or perform administrative database operations.

Attack Vector

The attack vector is network-based and requires no authentication or user interaction. An attacker with network access to the 911 Emergency Gateway login interface can craft malicious HTTP requests containing SQL injection payloads in the login form fields.

The blind time-based technique involves injecting SQL statements that cause conditional time delays. For example, an attacker might inject payloads that cause the database to sleep for a specified duration if a certain condition is true (such as a character at a specific position matching a guessed value). By measuring response times, the attacker can systematically enumerate database structure and contents.

This attack methodology allows for:

• Database schema enumeration
• Extraction of sensitive data including credentials
• Authentication bypass
• Potential command execution if database permissions allow
• Data manipulation or deletion

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-1839

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual SQL error messages or database timeout errors in application logs
• Abnormally long HTTP response times on the login endpoint indicating time-based injection attempts
• Multiple rapid authentication attempts from single IP addresses with unusual parameter values
• Database query logs showing unexpected SLEEP(), WAITFOR DELAY, BENCHMARK(), or similar time-delay functions

Detection Strategies

• Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block common SQL injection patterns including time-based payloads
• Monitor HTTP request parameters for SQL syntax characters such as single quotes, double dashes, semicolons, and SQL keywords
• Deploy intrusion detection systems (IDS) with signatures for SQL injection attack patterns
• Enable detailed logging on the 911 Emergency Gateway and forward logs to a SIEM for correlation analysis

Monitoring Recommendations

• Establish baseline response times for the login endpoint and alert on statistical deviations indicating time-based attacks
• Monitor database server CPU and query execution times for anomalous patterns
• Track failed authentication attempts and correlate with unusual request patterns
• Implement network traffic analysis to identify reconnaissance and exploitation attempts targeting the login form

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-1839

Immediate Actions Required

• Restrict network access to the 911 Emergency Gateway login interface using firewall rules and network segmentation
• Place the affected system behind a properly configured Web Application Firewall with SQL injection protection enabled
• Enable enhanced logging and monitoring on systems running the Intrado 911 Emergency Gateway
• Contact Intrado for vendor-specific guidance and patch availability information

Patch Information

Organizations should consult the CISA ICS Advisory ICSA-24-163-04 for official mitigation guidance and patch information. Contact Intrado directly for the latest firmware updates and security patches for the 911 Emergency Gateway.

Given the critical nature of emergency services infrastructure, coordinate patching activities with emergency services operations to minimize service disruption while ensuring timely remediation.

Workarounds

• Implement network segmentation to isolate the 911 Emergency Gateway from untrusted networks and limit exposure
• Deploy a reverse proxy with SQL injection filtering capabilities in front of the login interface
• Implement IP allowlisting to restrict login form access to authorized administrative networks only
• Consider temporary deployment of additional authentication layers such as VPN requirements for administrative access

# Example network segmentation using iptables
# Restrict access to the gateway management interface to authorized admin network
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 443 -s 10.0.0.0/24 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 443 -j DROP