External risk intelligence

Vinchin Backup & Recovery Default MySQL Credentials Vulnerability

CVE advisorySeverity: CRITICAL (CVSS 9.8)

CVE-2024-22901

Vinchin Backup & Recovery is a data protection and backup management appliance. Such solutions are commonly deployed as network-accessible management interfaces to facilitate remote backup operations and monitoring across distributed environments, making the administrative surface often reachable within the network or exposed to the internet depending on configuration.

Vinchin Backup And Recovery

7.2 and earlier

Halo Surface Signal: 4 out of 5 — likely to be public-facing.

External exposure likelihood

Horizon Alert

Summary of the vulnerability and why it matters

A critical vulnerability has been identified in Vinchin Backup & Recovery software related to the use of default credentials for its MySQL database. This issue allows for unauthenticated access, posing a significant risk to data integrity and availability.

Default credentials enable unauthorized access.
Critical for protecting backup data integrity.
Confirm relevance and assess potential exposure.

Attack Path

How an attacker could exploit the issue

An attacker could gain access to Vinchin Backup & Recovery by exploiting default MySQL credentials. This exposure allows an unauthenticated attacker to remotely access and potentially compromise the backup system. When exploited, this vulnerability can lead to critical impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

Unauthenticated network access required.
Default MySQL credentials used.
Full system compromise possible.

Live Threat

Current exploitation, exposure, and threat context

This vulnerability could allow unauthorized access to sensitive system data and service configurations due to the use of default MySQL credentials. When accessed remotely, an attacker could potentially compromise the integrity and availability of backup services and the data they protect.

Backup and recovery service data at risk.
Exploitable via default MySQL credentials.
Compromise of backup integrity and availability.

Operational Fix

Recommended remediation, mitigation, and detection steps

Teams responsible for managing Vinchin Backup & Recovery instances, likely platform or infrastructure teams, should prioritize identifying all deployments. Once located, confirm reachability and business criticality to determine the appropriate remediation path and accountable owner. This involves assessing exposure to the network and prioritizing action based on operational risk.

Identify and confirm deployment ownership.
Verify network exposure and criticality.
Plan remediation based on risk.

Supplementary metadata

CVSS vector

Validate whether this threat affects your internet-facing exposure.

Halo Threat Intelligence helps prioritize remediation with Halo Surface Signal and H/A/L/O context. Start exposure validation with a free external attack surface trial.

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Frequently asked questions

What is Vinchin Backup & Recovery?

Vinchin Backup & Recovery is a data protection and management platform used to safeguard information across distributed environments. It functions as an appliance that provides centralized control for backup operations and system monitoring, often acting as a bridge between your core infrastructure and your archived data.

What does CVE-2024-22901 mean for the database?

This vulnerability indicates a flaw where the software relies on hardcoded or default MySQL credentials. In technical terms, this is a form of improper authentication. It means an unauthorized party could potentially log into the database underlying the backup system without needing a unique or strong password.

How can an attacker trigger this vulnerability?

An attacker exploits this by attempting to log into the database using the known default credentials. The vulnerability requires network access to the target service to succeed. It does not require any prior user interaction, specific actions within the backup interface, or local access to the server, as the flaw is inherent to the database configuration itself.

Is my Vinchin deployment at risk?

According to Halo Surface Signal, this software is often deployed as a network-accessible management interface. If your instance is reachable over the internet or accessible across your internal network, it is a target. You should assume that any interface exposed to the network is potentially reachable by unauthorized parties.

What steps should I take to secure my instance?

Begin by inventorying all Vinchin instances in your environment to confirm where they are deployed. Once identified, evaluate their network reachability to determine which are exposed. You must prioritize these instances for configuration changes to remove or secure the default database credentials as specified by the vendor's updated guidance.

References

Written by Nicholas Merritt

Nicholas Merritt is VP of Security Solutions at Halo Security. With more than 25 years across application security, vulnerability prioritization, and offensive security, he helps teams translate threat data into practical exposure validation and remediation focus. He authors Halo Threat Intelligence CVE advisories using Halo Surface Signal and H/A/L/O context to prioritize internet-facing risk.