CVE-2012-2144 in Horizon
Summary
by MITRE
Session fixation vulnerability in OpenStack Dashboard (Horizon) folsom-1 and 2012.1 allows remote attackers to hijack web sessions via the sessionid cookie.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/03/2021
The CVE-2012-2144 vulnerability represents a critical session fixation flaw within the OpenStack Dashboard component known as Horizon, specifically affecting versions folsom-1 and 2012.1. This vulnerability resides in the authentication mechanism of the web-based management interface that administrators and users employ to interact with OpenStack cloud infrastructure. The flaw allows malicious actors to exploit the session management system by manipulating the sessionid cookie, thereby enabling unauthorized access to user sessions and potential system compromise. The vulnerability is particularly concerning given that OpenStack Dashboard serves as the primary graphical interface for cloud administrators to manage virtual machines, storage, networking, and other cloud resources.
The technical implementation of this session fixation vulnerability stems from inadequate session management practices within the Horizon application. When users authenticate to the OpenStack Dashboard, the system generates a session identifier that should be unique and randomly generated for each authentication event. However, the flawed implementation allows the sessionid cookie value to remain consistent across authentication attempts, enabling attackers to capture a valid session token and reuse it to impersonate legitimate users. This weakness specifically affects the cookie-based authentication mechanism and represents a direct violation of secure session management principles. The vulnerability falls under the CWE-384 category of Session Management Flaws, which encompasses issues related to session fixation, session hijacking, and improper session lifecycle management. From an attack perspective, this vulnerability aligns with techniques described in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the T1566 tactic for credential access through session hijacking.
The operational impact of CVE-2012-2144 extends beyond simple unauthorized access, as it provides attackers with potential persistence and privilege escalation capabilities within OpenStack environments. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability can gain access to cloud resources, manipulate virtual machines, access sensitive configuration data, and potentially move laterally within the cloud infrastructure. The vulnerability affects the entire administrative and user interface of OpenStack Dashboard, making it a significant threat to cloud security posture. Organizations using affected versions of OpenStack Dashboard face risks of data breaches, unauthorized resource consumption, and potential complete compromise of their cloud environments. The impact is particularly severe in multi-tenant cloud deployments where a single compromised session could affect multiple users and organizations sharing the same infrastructure.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2012-2144 require immediate remediation through software updates and implementation of proper session management controls. The most effective solution involves upgrading to patched versions of OpenStack Horizon that address the session fixation vulnerability through proper session regeneration upon authentication. Organizations should implement session management best practices including automatic session regeneration after successful authentication, secure cookie attributes such as HttpOnly and Secure flags, and proper session timeout mechanisms. Network-level protections should include monitoring for unusual session behavior and implementing web application firewalls to detect and block suspicious cookie manipulation attempts. Additionally, security teams should conduct regular vulnerability assessments of their OpenStack environments and implement comprehensive session management policies that align with NIST SP 800-116 guidelines for session management. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of proper session handling in web applications and serves as a reminder that authentication mechanisms must be rigorously tested for session management flaws that could compromise entire cloud infrastructures.