Acronis Cyber Infrastructure Users Urged to Patch Critical Vulnerability (CVE-2023-45249)

by do son · Published July 25, 2024 · Updated July 26, 2024

A critical vulnerability, CVE-2023-45249 (CVSS 9.8), has been discovered in Acronis Cyber Infrastructure (ACI), a popular software-defined infrastructure solution used by numerous organizations for cyber protection. The vulnerability, stemming from the use of default passwords, could allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands on affected systems, potentially leading to a full system compromise. This vulnerability is known to be exploited in the wild.

This high-severity flaw affects multiple versions of Acronis Cyber Infrastructure, including builds before 5.0.1-61, 5.1.1-71, 5.2.1-69, 5.3.1-53, and 5.4.4-132. The widespread use of ACI in diverse environments, ranging from small businesses to large enterprises, amplifies the potential impact of this vulnerability.

The CVE-2023-45249 vulnerability’s root cause lies in the use of default passwords for certain critical functionalities within ACI. Attackers could exploit this weakness to gain unauthorized access and execute malicious commands, potentially leading to data breaches, service disruptions, and other devastating consequences.

Acronis has promptly released patches to address the vulnerability and urges all users to update their ACI installations to the latest patched versions immediately. Organizations are also advised to change any default passwords used in their ACI deployments and implement robust password management practices.