CVE-2024-45765: Dell Enterprise Sonic RCE Vulnerability

CVE-2024-45765 Overview

Dell Enterprise SONiC Operating System (OS) contains an OS Command Injection vulnerability [CWE-78] affecting versions 4.1.x and 4.2.x. The flaw stems from improper neutralization of special elements in OS commands. A remote attacker with high privileges can exploit this vulnerability to execute arbitrary commands with elevated privileges. Dell classifies this issue as critical because it allows a lower-privileged role to execute high-privilege OS commands, effectively bypassing the intended role-based access control model of the network operating system.

Critical Impact
Successful exploitation enables authenticated attackers to execute arbitrary OS commands with elevated privileges on data-center switches running Dell Enterprise SONiC, compromising the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of network infrastructure.

Affected Products

Dell Enterprise SONiC Distribution version 4.1.x
Dell Enterprise SONiC Distribution version 4.2.x
Dell data-center switches running the affected SONiC OS releases

Discovery Timeline

2024-11-08 - CVE-2024-45765 published to the National Vulnerability Database (NVD)
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-45765

Vulnerability Analysis

CVE-2024-45765 is an OS Command Injection vulnerability [CWE-78] in Dell Enterprise SONiC OS. The affected component fails to properly neutralize special shell metacharacters passed through management interfaces before incorporating them into OS command invocations. As a result, an authenticated attacker with a lower-privileged administrative role can inject shell operators such as semicolons, backticks, or pipes into command parameters. The injected payload executes in the context of a higher-privileged process, effectively bypassing the role separation enforced by the SONiC management layer.

The vulnerability is reachable over the network, does not require user interaction, and has low attack complexity. Successful exploitation results in full command execution with elevated privileges, giving the attacker control over switch configuration, routing behavior, and traffic forwarding.

Root Cause

The root cause is insufficient input sanitization in the SONiC management plane. User-controlled input is concatenated into shell commands rather than being passed as isolated arguments or validated against an allowlist. Because the underlying command runs with higher privileges than the authenticated caller, the injection produces a privilege boundary crossing in addition to arbitrary command execution.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires an authenticated session with a high-privileged network role, but not the top administrative role. The attacker submits a crafted request to an affected management endpoint containing shell metacharacters within a parameter that is passed to an OS command. The injected commands run with the privileges of the SONiC management process. Refer to the Dell Security Update DSA-2024-449 for vendor-published technical details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-45765

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected shell processes (for example, sh, bash, python) spawned as children of SONiC management daemons.
Management-plane command parameters containing shell metacharacters such as ;, |, &&, backticks, or $().
Configuration changes or file modifications on the switch that do not correlate with an approved change ticket.
Outbound connections initiated from a switch management interface to unknown external hosts.

Detection Strategies

Enable verbose command auditing on SONiC and forward logs to a centralized platform for inspection of parameter values passed to management commands.
Build detection rules that flag management API calls containing shell metacharacters in fields that should only contain identifiers, IP addresses, or numeric values.
Correlate authentication events for non-admin roles with subsequent process-execution or configuration-change events on the same device.

Monitoring Recommendations

Ingest SONiC syslog, AAA, and CLI accounting records into a SIEM and alert on anomalies from lower-privileged accounts.
Baseline normal management-plane command patterns for each administrative role and alert on deviations.
Monitor egress traffic from switch management interfaces; switches should rarely initiate outbound sessions to arbitrary destinations.

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-45765

Immediate Actions Required

Apply the fixed Dell Enterprise SONiC release referenced in Dell Security Update DSA-2024-449.
Inventory all switches running SONiC 4.1.x or 4.2.x and prioritize patching data-center and internet-facing fabrics.
Audit accounts holding non-admin management roles and remove those that are unused or over-provisioned.
Rotate credentials for any account that may have accessed affected devices, especially shared or service accounts.

Patch Information

Dell has published fixed releases through DSA-2024-449. Customers running Dell Enterprise SONiC Distribution 4.1.x or 4.2.x should upgrade to the remediated version listed in the advisory. Dell recommends upgrading at the earliest opportunity because the flaw allows privilege escalation through command execution.

Workarounds

Restrict management-plane access to a dedicated out-of-band network reachable only from trusted jump hosts.
Enforce strict role-based access control and remove privileged roles from accounts that do not require them.
Require multi-factor authentication for all administrative access to SONiC devices where supported.
Apply access control lists on management interfaces to allow connections only from approved source addresses.

bash

# Example: restrict SONiC management access to a trusted subnet
# (illustrative configuration; adapt to your environment)
config acl add table MGMT_ACL L3 -p SNMP,SSH,HTTPS
config acl rule add MGMT_ACL RULE_1 -a ACCEPT -s 10.10.10.0/24
config acl rule add MGMT_ACL RULE_99 -a DROP -s 0.0.0.0/0