CVE-2024-49400 is a critical security vulnerability identified in Meta's Tacquito software prior to commit 07b49d1358e6ec0b5aa482fcd284f509191119e2. The root cause is a permissive regular expression (regex) matching flaw classified under CWE-625, where the software incorrectly enforced authorization checks on commands and their arguments. Instead of requiring the entire command string to match the allowed patterns, the regex only matched substrings, which could be exploited to bypass intended restrictions. This flaw allows attackers to execute unauthorized commands by crafting inputs that partially match allowed commands, effectively circumventing security controls. The vulnerability has a CVSS v3.1 score of 9.8 (critical), reflecting its high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability, and its ease of remote exploitation without authentication or user interaction. Although no public exploits are currently known, the vulnerability's nature suggests a high likelihood of weaponization. Tacquito is a Meta product, and while specific versioning details are limited, any deployment prior to the fix is vulnerable. The vulnerability was publicly disclosed on October 17, 2024, and remains a significant threat until patched.

The impact of CVE-2024-49400 is severe for organizations using Meta's Tacquito software. Successful exploitation can lead to unauthorized command execution, resulting in full compromise of affected systems. This can cause data breaches (loss of confidentiality), unauthorized data modification or destruction (loss of integrity), and service disruption or denial (loss of availability). Given the lack of required authentication or user interaction, attackers can remotely exploit this vulnerability, increasing the attack surface significantly. Organizations relying on Tacquito for critical infrastructure or sensitive operations face risks of espionage, data theft, operational disruption, and potential lateral movement within networks. The critical CVSS score underscores the urgency of addressing this vulnerability to prevent potentially devastating cyberattacks.

To mitigate CVE-2024-49400, organizations should: 1) Immediately identify all Tacquito deployments and verify their versions against the fixed commit 07b49d1358e6ec0b5aa482fcd284f509191119e2. 2) Apply official patches or updates from Meta as soon as they become available. 3) In the absence of patches, implement temporary controls such as restricting network access to Tacquito services and monitoring for anomalous command execution patterns. 4) Review and harden command authorization logic by enforcing strict full-string regex matching rather than substring matches. 5) Employ additional layers of access control and input validation to prevent unauthorized command injection. 6) Conduct thorough security audits and penetration tests focusing on command execution pathways. 7) Monitor logs and network traffic for suspicious activities indicative of exploitation attempts. 8) Educate system administrators and security teams about the vulnerability and recommended response actions. These steps go beyond generic advice by focusing on the specific regex matching flaw and command authorization mechanisms.