Vulnerability

CERT-In Vulnerability Note CIVN-2025-0172
Multiple Vulnerabilities in ZKTeco WL20 Biometric Attendance System

Original Issue Date:August 13, 2025

Severity Rating: HIGH

Software Affected

ZKTeco WL20 Biometric Attendance System: Version ZLM31-FXO1-3.1.8 and earlier

Overview

Multiple vulnerabilities have been reported in ZKTeco WL20, which could allow an attacker to gain unauthorized access to sensitive information and Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) broker associated with the targeted device.

Target Audience:
End-users/ Administrators of ZKTeco WL20 Biometric Attendance System

Risk Assessment:
Risk of exposure of credentials, private keys, configuration data, system data and MQTT endpoints.

Impact Assessment:
Impact on confidentiality and integrity of the vulnerable device.

Description

The ZKTeco WL20 Biometric Attendance System is a fingerprint-based time & attendance terminal equipped with Wi‑Fi connectivity.

1. Cleartext Storage Vulnerability ( CVE-2025-54464   )

This vulnerability exists in ZKTeco WL20 due to storage of admin and user credentials without encryption in the device firmware. An attacker with physical access could exploit this vulnerability by extracting the firmware and reverse engineer the binary data to access the unencrypted credentials stored in the firmware of targeted device.

2. Hard-coded Credentials Vulnerability ( CVE-2025-54465   )

This vulnerability exists in ZKTeco WL20 due to hard-coded MQTT credentials and endpoints stored in plaintext within the device firmware. An attacker with physical access could exploit this vulnerability by extracting the firmware and analyzing the binary data to retrieve the hard-coded MQTT credentials and endpoints from the targeted device.

Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow the attacker to gain unauthorized access to the MQTT broker and manipulate the communications of the targeted device.

3. Hard-coded Private Key Vulnerability ( CVE-2025-55279   )

This vulnerability exists in ZKTeco WL20 due to hard-coded private key stored in plaintext within the device firmware. An attacker with physical access could exploit this vulnerability by extracting the firmware and analyzing the binary data to retrieve private key stored in the firmware of the targeted device.

Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow the attacker to perform unauthorized decryption of sensitive data and Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attacks on the targeted device.

4. Information Disclosure Vulnerability ( CVE-2025-55280   )

This vulnerability exists in ZKTeco WL20 due to storage of Wi-Fi credentials, configuration data and system data in plaintext within the device firmware. An attacker with physical access could exploit this vulnerability by extracting the firmware and reverse engineer the binary data to access the plaintext sensitive data stored in the targeted device.

Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow the attacker to gain unauthorized network access, retrieve and manipulate data on the targeted device.

Credit

These vulnerabilities are reported by Shravan Singh from Kavach IoT Security.

Solution

CVE-2025-54464 and CVE-2025-54465: Upgrade ZKTeco WL20 Biometric Attendance System firmware to version ZLM31-FXO1-4.0.3.
https://www.zkteco.com/en/Security_Bulletinsibs/20

CVE-2025-55279 and CVE-2025-55280:

Apply mitigations as per vendor instructions (whenever available) or discontinue the use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
Perform risk assessment and implement physical security controls to prevent unauthorized access to the device.

Vendor Information

ZKTeco Co
https://www.zkteco.com/en/Security_Bulletinsibs/20

References

ZKTeco Co
https://www.zkteco.com/en/Security_Bulletinsibs/20

CVE Name
CVE-2025-54464
CVE-2025-54465
CVE-2025-55279
CVE-2025-55280

Disclaimer

The information provided herein is on "as is" basis, without warranty of any kind.

Contact Information

Email: info@cert-in.org.in
Phone: +91-11-22902657

Postal address

Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In)
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
Government of India
Electronics Niketan
6, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road,
New Delhi - 110 003
India