CVE-2025-34056 is a critical OS command injection vulnerability affecting AVTECH IP cameras, DVRs, and NVR devices. The vulnerability resides in the PwdGrp.cgi endpoint, which is responsible for user and group management operations. Authenticated users can supply input via the 'pwd' or 'grp' parameters, which are directly embedded into system commands without proper sanitization or validation. This improper neutralization of special elements (CWE-78) allows attackers to execute arbitrary shell commands with root privileges on the affected device. The vulnerability requires authentication but no user interaction beyond that. The CVSS 4.0 score of 9.4 reflects the high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability, as well as the ease of exploitation due to low attack complexity and no need for user interaction. Exploiting this vulnerability could lead to full device compromise, enabling attackers to manipulate video feeds, disable security monitoring, pivot into internal networks, or deploy malware. Although no known exploits are currently in the wild, the critical severity and root-level command execution make this a significant threat to organizations using AVTECH surveillance equipment.

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a severe risk to physical security infrastructure. AVTECH devices are commonly deployed in corporate, governmental, and critical infrastructure environments across Europe for video surveillance and access control. Successful exploitation could lead to unauthorized surveillance, tampering with video evidence, or disabling of security monitoring systems, undermining organizational security and compliance with data protection regulations such as GDPR. Additionally, compromised devices could serve as entry points for lateral movement within networks, potentially exposing sensitive data or disrupting operational technology systems. The root-level access granted by this vulnerability amplifies the risk of persistent backdoors or ransomware deployment. Given the increasing reliance on IP-based surveillance in European public and private sectors, the impact could extend to public safety and critical infrastructure protection.

Organizations should immediately audit their AVTECH IP camera, DVR, and NVR deployments to identify affected devices. Since no patches are currently available, mitigating controls include: 1) Restricting network access to management interfaces using network segmentation and firewall rules to limit authenticated access only to trusted administrators. 2) Enforcing strong authentication mechanisms and monitoring for unusual login activity to detect potential exploitation attempts. 3) Employing intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS) with signatures or anomaly detection tailored to AVTECH device traffic. 4) Disabling or restricting the PwdGrp.cgi endpoint if possible or limiting its use to essential personnel. 5) Regularly backing up device configurations and logs to enable forensic analysis and recovery. 6) Planning for prompt patch deployment once AVTECH releases a security update. Additionally, organizations should consider replacing vulnerable devices with more secure alternatives if remediation is delayed.