CVE-2025-44958: Ruckus Network Director Info Disclosure

CVE-2025-44958 Overview

CVE-2025-44958 affects CommScope RUCKUS Network Director (RND) versions before 4.5. The product stores passwords in a recoverable format, classified under [CWE-257] Storing Passwords in a Recoverable Format. An attacker with access to the stored credential data can recover plaintext passwords used by the network management platform.

The weakness allows confidentiality compromise without authentication or user interaction when the underlying credential store is reachable. Because RUCKUS Network Director centrally manages large wireless and switch deployments, recovered credentials can expose administrative access to downstream network infrastructure.

Critical Impact

Recoverable password storage in RUCKUS Network Director enables attackers to extract plaintext administrative credentials, exposing managed wireless and switching infrastructure to lateral compromise.

Affected Products

• CommScope RUCKUS Network Director (RND) versions prior to 4.5
• Deployments using commscope:ruckus_network_director as identified in NVD CPE data
• Network environments managed centrally through the RND controller

Discovery Timeline

• 2025-08-04 - CVE-2025-44958 published to NVD
• 2025-11-03 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-44958

Vulnerability Analysis

The flaw stems from how RUCKUS Network Director persists credentials internally. Instead of applying a one-way cryptographic hash with a salt, the application stores passwords using a reversible encoding or symmetric encryption scheme. Anyone with access to the credential blob and the associated key or algorithm can convert ciphertext back to plaintext.

This violates the secure credential storage principle described in [CWE-257]. Passwords used for authentication should never be retrievable in their original form. The defect is a design-level issue, not a transient memory error, so exploitation does not require timing or race conditions.

RUCKUS Network Director operates as a centralized controller managing access points, switches, and configuration profiles. Credential material stored by the controller often includes administrative accounts, RADIUS shared secrets, and integration credentials for upstream systems. Recovery of any of these values expands the blast radius beyond the RND host itself.

Root Cause

The root cause is the use of reversible cryptography or weak encoding to protect stored passwords. Recoverable storage means the system retains the capability to decrypt credentials, which an attacker inherits once they reach the storage layer or backup artifacts.

Attack Vector

The attack vector is network-based with no privileges or user interaction required, per the published CVSS metrics. An attacker who reaches the credential repository — through an exposed service, backup file, configuration export, or related access path — can decode stored passwords offline. Refer to the Claroty CVE-2025-44958 Disclosure and CERT Vulnerability Bulletin #613753 for additional technical context.

No public proof-of-concept code is available for this issue, and verified exploitation primitives have not been published.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-44958

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected access to RUCKUS Network Director configuration backups or database files outside scheduled maintenance windows
• Administrative logins to RND or downstream RUCKUS devices from unfamiliar source IP addresses or at anomalous times
• Credential reuse alerts where RND-managed account passwords appear on other systems unexpectedly

Detection Strategies

• Inventory all RND deployments and confirm the running version against the 4.5 release threshold
• Audit file system and database access logs on RND hosts for reads of credential storage objects by non-service accounts
• Correlate authentication telemetry from managed access points and switches with RND administrative activity to identify out-of-band logins

Monitoring Recommendations

• Forward RND host, application, and authentication logs to a centralized analytics platform for retention and correlation
• Alert on configuration exports, database dumps, and backup file transfers originating from the RND host
• Monitor north-south and east-west traffic to the RND management interface for unauthorized connections

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-44958

Immediate Actions Required

• Upgrade RUCKUS Network Director to version 4.5 or later as directed by the CommScope Security Advisory FAQ
• Rotate every credential that was stored in or managed by RND, including administrative, RADIUS, and integration accounts
• Restrict network reachability of the RND management interface to a dedicated administrative VLAN or jump host

Patch Information

CommScope addresses the recoverable password storage defect in RUCKUS Network Director 4.5. Apply the vendor-supplied update following the upgrade guidance in the official advisory. Validate post-upgrade that legacy credential blobs are migrated or invalidated according to vendor instructions.

Workarounds

• Place RND behind a firewall that restricts access to a small set of administrator workstations until the patch is applied
• Disable or remove unused administrative accounts on RND to reduce the value of any recoverable credential set
• Enforce unique, high-entropy passwords for every account managed by RND so that any recovered credential has limited reuse value

# Example network restriction for the RND management interface
# Replace 10.10.10.0/24 with the approved administrative subnet
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -s 10.10.10.0/24 --dport 443 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 443 -j DROP