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Hard-coded CredentialsWeakness · CWE-798

CVE-2024-36049

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-05-24
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
72/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Aptos Wisal payroll accounting before 7.1.6 uses hardcoded credentials in the Windows client to fetch the complete list of usernames and passwords from the database server, using an unencrypted connection. This allows attackers in a machine-in-the-middle position read and write access to personally identifiable information (PII) and especially payroll data and the ability to impersonate legitimate users with respect to the audit log.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Aptos Wisal payroll accounting software before version 7.1.6 contains hardcoded credentials embedded in the Windows client that authenticate to the database server. The client retrieves the complete username and password list from the database over an unencrypted connection, allowing a man-in-the-middle attacker to intercept credentials and gain read/write access to PII and payroll data, plus impersonate users in audit logs.

MitigationUpgrade to Aptos Wisal version 7.1.6 or later which removes hardcoded credentials and implements proper authentication. Avoid using the affected software on untrusted networks until patched.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Locate Aptos Wisal installation
    Check common installation paths such as C:\Program Files\Aptos\WISAL or C:\Program Files (x86)\Aptos\WISAL, and look for the wisal.exe or WISAL application in Windows Programs and Features.
    Affected if Aptos Wisal payroll software is found on the system
  2. Determine installed version
    Right-click the main executable (usually wisal.exe) in the installation folder, select Properties, and check the File Version field. Alternatively, open the software and look for an About or Help menu showing the version number.
    Affected if The version number is lower than 7.1.6 (e.g., 7.1.5, 7.1.0, etc.)
  3. Check for embedded credentials in client binaries
    Use a text or hex editor to open the main client executable (wisal.exe) and search for strings resembling database connection parameters such as 'password', 'pwd', 'user', or 'connection'. Look for hardcoded plain-text credentials or connection strings.
    Affected if Hardcoded credentials, connection strings, or plaintext passwords are found embedded in the client binary
  4. Inspect database connection configuration
    Examine configuration files in the installation directory (such as config.ini, settings.xml, or .cfg files) for database server addresses, usernames, and passwords. Check if the connection string indicates unencrypted or plaintext communication.
    Affected if Configuration files contain unencrypted database credentials or show no encryption (e.g., no SSL/TLS flags)
  5. Verify network traffic encryption
    Use a network packet capture tool (such as Wireshark) on the client machine while the software connects to the database server. Verify whether the database traffic (typically port 1433 for SQL Server or 3306 for MySQL) is encrypted.
    Affected if Database traffic is transmitted in plaintext without TLS/SSL encryption

A user is affected if Aptos Wisal version 7.1.6 or higher is not installed, and the software uses hardcoded credentials with unencrypted database connections.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade to Aptos Wisal version 7.1.6 or later which removes hardcoded credentials and implements proper authentication. Avoid using the affected software on untrusted networks until patched.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

7.1.6

  1. Identify the current installed version of Aptos Wisal payroll accounting software
  2. Contact Aptos official support to obtain version 7.1.6 or later which contains the security fix
  3. Follow Aptos standard upgrade procedure to install the patched version
  4. After upgrading, change all hardcoded database credentials to use secure, unique credentials managed through proper authentication mechanisms
  5. Verify that database connections now use encrypted connections (e.g., TLS/SSL)

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
32.0 hours of engineering $5,600
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2024-36049 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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