CVE-2023-4959

Description

A flaw was found in Quay. Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attacks force a user to perform unwanted actions in an application. During the pentest, it was detected that the config-editor page is vulnerable to CSRF. The config-editor page is used to configure the Quay instance. By coercing the victim’s browser into sending an attacker-controlled request from another domain, it is possible to reconfigure the Quay instance (including adding users with admin privileges).

Mitigation

To avoid the risk associated with this vulnerability, it is recommended to include a secret in all requests that may generate a change in the application's data. A secret is understood, for example, as an extra parameter, generated and sent to the client when accessing the web resource from which the request to be protected is launched. This secret must be generated randomly and be different for each request to be made. On the server side, the application must check that these requests, which cause significant modifications to the data, include the previously generated secrets. If this is not included or is erroneous, the application should not perform the corresponding action.

In addition to this secret, it is recommended to set the "SameSite" attribute in the session cookie with the following values:
- SameSite=Strict: this value prevents the cookie from being sent in any cross-origin request.
- SameSite=Lax: this is the value that is recommended in this case as any action carried out via POST or via a script from a cross-origin will be rejected by the browser.

Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details

Info alert:Important note

CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).

The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.

CVSS v3 Score Breakdown

Red HatNVDcve.org
Base Score6.56.56.5
Attack VectorNetworkNetworkNetwork
Attack ComplexityLowLowLow
Privileges RequiredNoneNoneNone
User InteractionRequiredRequiredRequired
ScopeUnchangedUnchangedUnchanged
ConfidentialityNoneNoneNone
Integrity ImpactNoneHighNone
Availability ImpactHighNoneHigh

Vector

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

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

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

Understanding the Weakness (CWE)

Confidentiality,Integrity,Availability,Non-Repudiation,Access Control

Technical Impact: Gain Privileges or Assume Identity; Bypass Protection Mechanism; Read Application Data; Modify Application Data; DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart

The consequences will vary depending on the nature of the functionality that is vulnerable to CSRF. An attacker could trick a client into making an unintentional request to the web server via a URL, image load, XMLHttpRequest, etc., which would then be treated as an authentic request from the client - effectively performing any operations as the victim, leading to an exposure of data, unintended code execution, etc. If the victim is an administrator or privileged user, the consequences may include obtaining complete control over the web application - deleting or stealing data, uninstalling the product, or using it to launch other attacks against all of the product's users. Because the attacker has the identity of the victim, the scope of CSRF is limited only by the victim's privileges.

Acknowledgements

This issue was discovered by Oleg Sushchenko (Red Hat).

Frequently Asked Questions

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