CVE-2025-9497: Microchip Time Provider 4100 Auth Bypass

CVE-2025-9497 Overview

A Use of Hard-coded Credentials vulnerability has been identified in the Microchip Time Provider 4100, a precision timing device commonly used in telecommunications and critical infrastructure environments. This vulnerability allows attackers to perform malicious manual software updates by leveraging hardcoded upgrade decryption passwords embedded within the firmware.

Critical Impact

Attackers with local access and high privileges can exploit hardcoded credentials to install malicious firmware updates, potentially compromising time synchronization integrity across dependent systems.

Affected Products

• Microchip Time Provider 4100 versions before 2.5.0

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-03-28 - CVE CVE-2025-9497 published to NVD
• 2026-04-01 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-9497

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-798 (Use of Hard-coded Credentials), a common weakness pattern where sensitive credentials are embedded directly in source code, firmware, or configuration files. In the case of the Time Provider 4100, the hardcoded upgrade decryption passwords enable an attacker to bypass intended security controls during the software update process.

The exploitation requires local access to the device with elevated privileges. While the attack complexity is high and requires specific preconditions, successful exploitation can result in significant integrity impact to both the vulnerable system and downstream systems that depend on it for time synchronization.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability lies in the use of hardcoded decryption passwords within the Time Provider 4100 firmware. These passwords are used to validate and decrypt software update packages. By embedding static credentials in the firmware, the manufacturer created a scenario where any attacker who discovers these credentials can craft malicious update packages that will be accepted by the device.

Attack Vector

The attack vector is local, meaning the attacker must have direct access to the Time Provider 4100 device or its management interface. The attack requires high privileges and specific preconditions to be successful. An attacker would need to:

1. Obtain local access to the Time Provider 4100 device
2. Extract or discover the hardcoded decryption passwords from firmware analysis
3. Craft a malicious software update package encrypted with the discovered credentials
4. Apply the malicious update through the device's manual update mechanism

The vulnerability does not require user interaction, making it exploitable whenever the preconditions are met. Successful exploitation can impact downstream systems that rely on the Time Provider 4100 for precision timing services.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-9497

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected firmware version changes on Time Provider 4100 devices
• Unauthorized access attempts to the device management interface
• Unusual software update activity outside of scheduled maintenance windows
• Configuration changes to time synchronization settings without administrator action

Detection Strategies

• Monitor Time Provider 4100 devices for firmware version changes and validate against known-good versions
• Implement file integrity monitoring on device configuration and firmware files
• Enable comprehensive audit logging on device management interfaces
• Deploy network monitoring to detect unauthorized connections to Time Provider 4100 devices

Monitoring Recommendations

• Configure alerting for any software update operations on Time Provider 4100 devices
• Establish baseline behavior for time synchronization services and monitor for anomalies
• Review access logs regularly for suspicious administrative activity
• Implement SentinelOne endpoint protection to detect and alert on firmware modification attempts

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-9497

Immediate Actions Required

• Upgrade Microchip Time Provider 4100 devices to version 2.5.0 or later immediately
• Restrict physical and network access to Time Provider 4100 devices to authorized personnel only
• Audit administrative access to ensure only necessary accounts have update privileges
• Review recent software update activity on affected devices for signs of compromise

Patch Information

Microchip has addressed this vulnerability in Time Provider 4100 version 2.5.0. Organizations should upgrade to this version or later to remediate the hardcoded credentials issue. For detailed patch information, refer to the Microchip Product Security Advisory.

Workarounds

• Implement strict network segmentation to isolate Time Provider 4100 devices from untrusted networks
• Enable multi-factor authentication for administrative access where supported
• Implement additional access controls and monitoring on device management interfaces
• Consider placing devices behind a jump server or bastion host to limit direct access

# Network segmentation example - restrict access to management interface
# Replace with your actual network configuration
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 443 -s 10.0.0.0/24 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 443 -j DROP