CVE-2022-37898 is an authenticated command injection vulnerability affecting multiple Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) Aruba networking products, including Aruba Mobility Conductor (formerly Mobility Master), Aruba Mobility Controllers, WLAN Gateways, and SD-WAN Gateways managed via Aruba Central. The vulnerability resides in the ArubaOS command line interface (CLI), where insufficient input validation allows an authenticated user with high privileges to inject arbitrary commands. Successful exploitation enables execution of arbitrary commands with privileged access on the underlying operating system, potentially leading to full system compromise. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-78 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command), indicating that the CLI does not properly sanitize user-supplied input before passing it to the OS shell. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 7.2 (high severity), with vector metrics AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H, indicating network attack vector, low attack complexity, requiring high privileges but no user interaction, and impacting confidentiality, integrity, and availability to a high degree. No public exploits are currently known in the wild, and no patches or mitigation links were provided at the time of publication. The vulnerability affects critical Aruba networking infrastructure components commonly deployed in enterprise and service provider environments to manage wireless LANs and SD-WANs, making it a significant risk for organizations relying on these devices for network connectivity and security management.

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a substantial risk to network infrastructure integrity and availability. Aruba products are widely used across Europe in sectors such as telecommunications, finance, government, and large enterprises for managing WLAN and SD-WAN environments. Exploitation could allow attackers with authenticated access—potentially internal threat actors or compromised credentials—to execute arbitrary commands with privileged system rights, leading to unauthorized data access, network disruption, or persistent footholds within critical network infrastructure. This could result in data breaches, service outages, and compromise of sensitive communications. Given the role of these devices in managing network traffic and security policies, attackers could manipulate routing, intercept or redirect traffic, or disable security controls, amplifying the impact. The lack of known public exploits reduces immediate risk but does not eliminate the threat, especially if attackers develop exploits or leverage insider access. The high severity score reflects the potential for widespread impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability of network services.

1. Immediate steps should include restricting administrative access to Aruba devices to trusted personnel and networks, employing strong multi-factor authentication to reduce the risk of credential compromise. 2. Monitor Aruba device logs and network traffic for unusual command executions or administrative activities that could indicate exploitation attempts. 3. Implement network segmentation to isolate Aruba management interfaces from general user networks and the internet, minimizing exposure. 4. Regularly audit user accounts and privileges on Aruba devices to ensure the principle of least privilege is enforced, removing unnecessary high-privilege accounts. 5. Engage with Hewlett Packard Enterprise support channels to obtain and apply any available patches or firmware updates addressing this vulnerability as soon as they are released. 6. If patches are not yet available, consider temporary compensating controls such as disabling or restricting CLI access methods that are vulnerable, or using Aruba Central’s management features to limit command execution capabilities. 7. Conduct penetration testing and vulnerability assessments focused on Aruba infrastructure to identify potential exploitation paths and validate mitigation effectiveness. 8. Maintain up-to-date incident response plans that include scenarios involving network infrastructure compromise to enable rapid containment and recovery.