ACCORDING to SecurityWeek, Forescout researchers found 20 new vulnerabilities across Lantronix and Silex serial-to-IP converters, collectively tracked as BRIDGE:BREAK, which can be exploited for OS command injection, remote code execution, firmware tampering, denial-of-service and device takeovers.
The researchers showed how an attacker could tamper with data or cause a DoS that would affect healthcare and industrial environments, including disrupted laboratory results, unresponsive surgical lighting controllers, halted infusion pump calibration workflows and interrupted telemetry from environmental sensors. They also warned that extortion groups or state-sponsored actors could deliver weaponised firmware to cause devices to stop responding on the network.
Lantronix and Silex have released patches, and CISA published an advisory describing the Lantronix vulnerabilities, while Silex issued an advisory on its site. The devices are widely deployed across sectors such as industrial, healthcare and utilities, with some vendors reporting millions of units and almost 20,000 internet-exposed systems worldwide, detectable via OSINT; Forescout will publish a report detailing BRIDGE:BREAK on Tuesday, 21 April.