TOTOLINK X6000R Three New Vulnerabilities Uncovered

[carlospolop]

🤖 Automated Content Update

This PR was automatically generated by the HackTricks News Bot based on a technical blog post.

📝 Source Information

• Blog URL: https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/totolink-x6000r-vulnerabilities/
• Blog Title: TOTOLINK X6000R: Three New Vulnerabilities Uncovered
• Suggested Section: Pentesting Web -> Command Injection (Argument/Option Injection via CGI handlers)

🎯 Content Summary

Target: TOTOLINK X6000R router, firmware V9.4.0cu.1360_B20241207 (released Mar 28, 2025).

Architecture/attack surface: The web UI centralizes all actions behind a single CGI dispatcher at /cgi-bin/cstecgi.cgi. A request parameter topicurl selects an internal handler (for example, setEasyMeshAgentCfg and setWizardCfg). Several handlers reuse a common input validation routine. In the vulnerable build, multiple handler paths...

🔧 Technical Details

Abusing centralized CGI routing: When a device multiplexes many privileged actions through a single CGI endpoint using a selector like topicurl, an attacker can invoke sensitive internal handlers directly without UI constraints. Enumerate handler names and hit them unauthenticated if access controls are weak.

Option/flag injection via leading hyphen: Any blocklist missing - lets user input be parsed as command-line options by downstream utilities. Prepending - can flip modes or trigger failure paths (DoS). Defensive pattern: validate using allowlists and never pass untrusted strings as argv without strict normalization.

Parameter-to-shell injection: If a handler (e.g., setEasyMeshAgentCfg) concatenates parameters into shell commands, attacker-controlled fields can become executable tokens. The generic exploit shape is: send a request to the dispatcher with topicurl set to the target han...

🤖 Agent Actions

I analyzed the Unit 42 blog and updated HackTricks with the relevant, reusable techniques. The post is highly technical and applicable beyond a single vendor: it covers centralized CGI dispatchers accessed via a topic selector parameter, option/argument injection via leading hyphens (argv-level injection without shell metacharacters), unauthenticated command injection in specific handlers, and validator bypass enabling arbitrary file writes/persistence. I therefore abstracted those techniques and updated the most relevant HackTricks pages.

What I changed

1. src/pentesting-web/command-injection.md

• Added a new subsection: “Argument/Option injection via leading hyphen (argv, no shell metacharacters)”
  • Explains the technique where user-controlled input is passed as argv to system utilities and leading “-”/“--” turns user input into flags.
  • Provides generic PoC shapes against centralized CGI dispatchers and example HTTP requests.
  • Lists practical flags to try (e.g., ping -f/-c, curl -o/-K, tcpdump -G/-W/-z) and detection/hardening guidance.
• Updated References to include the Unit 42 blog URL.

2. src/network-services-pentesting/pentesting-web/cgi.md

• Added a new section: “Centralized CGI dispatchers (single endpoint routing via selector parameters)”
  • Methodology to enumerate and test handler names (topicurl-style routers).
  • Generic exploit shapes: option injection (argv), classic parameter-to-shell RCE, and validator bypass to file write.
  • Detection/hardening bullets (unauthenticated access to dispatcher with topicurl, parameters starting with “-”, strict allowlists).
• Added a “References” section at the end with the Unit 42 blog URL.

Why these locations

• Command Injection page: Best place to capture the “option/argument injection via argv” primitive which is a special case of command injection without shell metacharacters and common in embedded web environments.
• CGI Pentesting page: Ideal to document centralized CGI dispatchers with a single endpoint (e.g., /cgi-bin/cstecgi.cgi) and handler selection parameter (topicurl), how to enumerate internal handlers, and how validator flaws in those handlers can lead to RCE or arbitrary file write.

References added

• Unit 42 – TOTOLINK X6000R: Three New Vulnerabilities Uncovered
  https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/totolink-x6000r-vulnerabilities/

No new files were created; existing pages were extended to preserve structure and style.

---

This PR was automatically created by the HackTricks Feed Bot. Please review the changes carefully before merging.

📚 Repository Maintenance

• MD files processed: 896
• MD files fixed: 1

All .md files have been checked for proper formatting (headers, includes, etc.).

[carlospolop]

🔗 Additional Context

Original Blog Post: https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/totolink-x6000r-vulnerabilities/

Content Categories: Based on the analysis, this content was categorized under "Pentesting Web -> Command Injection (Argument/Option Injection via CGI handlers)".

Repository Maintenance:

• MD Files Formatting: 896 files processed (1 files fixed)

Review Notes:

• This content was automatically processed and may require human review for accuracy
• Check that the placement within the repository structure is appropriate
• Verify that all technical details are correct and up-to-date
• All .md files have been checked for proper formatting (headers, includes, etc.)

Bot Version: HackTricks News Bot v1.0

[carlospolop]

merge