CVE-2025-49163 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting Arris VIP1113 devices that utilize the KreaTV SDK, present up to May 30, 2025. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-424, which pertains to improper protection of alternate paths. Specifically, the flaw allows an attacker with high privileges (PR:H) and local access (AV:L) to boot an arbitrary image by exploiting a crafted /usr/bin/gunzip file. This indicates that the device's boot process does not adequately validate or restrict the execution path of the gunzip utility, enabling the attacker to substitute or manipulate the boot image. The vulnerability does not require user interaction (UI:N) and affects confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:H/I:H/A:H) of the device. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 6.7, reflecting a medium severity level. Although no known exploits are currently in the wild and no patches have been linked, the vulnerability poses a significant risk due to the potential for complete device compromise through local privilege exploitation. The attack vector is local, requiring the attacker to have some form of authenticated access or physical access to the device, but once exploited, it can lead to full control over the device's firmware and operating environment.

For European organizations, especially those relying on Arris VIP1113 devices for IPTV or related services, this vulnerability could lead to severe operational disruptions. An attacker exploiting this flaw could deploy malicious firmware images, resulting in unauthorized data access, service outages, or persistent backdoors within the network infrastructure. This could compromise sensitive customer data, violate data protection regulations such as GDPR, and damage organizational reputation. The integrity of broadcast or streaming services could be undermined, impacting service availability and customer trust. Additionally, compromised devices could be leveraged as footholds for lateral movement within corporate networks or as part of botnets, amplifying the threat landscape. Given the medium severity and the requirement for local high privileges, the risk is particularly acute in environments where device access controls are weak or where devices are deployed in less secure locations.

Organizations should immediately inventory their network to identify the presence of Arris VIP1113 devices. Since no official patches are currently available, mitigating controls should focus on restricting local access to these devices. This includes enforcing strict physical security, limiting administrative access to trusted personnel, and using network segmentation to isolate vulnerable devices from critical infrastructure. Monitoring and logging access attempts to these devices should be enhanced to detect suspicious activities. Where possible, disable or restrict the execution of the /usr/bin/gunzip utility or implement application whitelisting to prevent unauthorized binaries from running. Organizations should engage with Arris for updates or firmware patches and plan for timely deployment once available. Additionally, consider deploying host-based intrusion detection systems (HIDS) to monitor for unauthorized changes to boot images or system binaries. Regular security audits and penetration testing focusing on device security can help identify and remediate related weaknesses.