CVE-2024-22902 is a critical vulnerability identified in Vinchin Backup & Recovery version 7.2, where the software was found to be configured with default root credentials. This misconfiguration allows an unauthenticated attacker to remotely access the system with full administrative privileges, as the default root credentials are typically well-known or easily guessable. The vulnerability has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8, indicating a critical severity level. The vector metrics (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) reveal that the attack can be performed remotely over the network without any privileges or user interaction, and the impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability is high. Since Vinchin Backup & Recovery is a backup and recovery solution, unauthorized access could lead to exposure, modification, or deletion of backup data, potentially compromising business continuity and data integrity. The lack of patch information suggests that remediation may currently rely on configuration changes or vendor guidance. Although no known exploits are reported in the wild yet, the ease of exploitation and critical impact make this a significant threat that requires immediate attention.

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a severe risk, especially for enterprises relying on Vinchin Backup & Recovery for critical data protection and disaster recovery. Unauthorized root access could lead to data breaches involving sensitive personal and corporate data, violating GDPR and other data protection regulations, resulting in legal and financial penalties. The integrity of backup data could be compromised, undermining trust in recovery processes and potentially causing extended downtime or data loss during incident response. Additionally, attackers could leverage this access to move laterally within networks, escalating attacks to other critical infrastructure components. The critical nature of this vulnerability means that organizations in sectors such as finance, healthcare, government, and critical infrastructure are particularly at risk due to the sensitivity and regulatory requirements of their data.

Immediate mitigation steps include changing the default root credentials to strong, unique passwords and disabling remote root login where possible. Organizations should audit their Vinchin Backup & Recovery installations to identify any instances still using default credentials. Network segmentation and firewall rules should be enforced to restrict access to backup management interfaces to trusted administrative networks only. Monitoring and logging access to backup systems should be enhanced to detect any unauthorized attempts. Until an official patch or update is released by Vinchin, organizations should consider deploying compensating controls such as multi-factor authentication (if supported) and restricting administrative access via VPN or secure jump hosts. Regular backups should be verified for integrity, and incident response plans updated to address potential exploitation scenarios. Finally, organizations should maintain close communication with the vendor for updates and patches.