CVE-2013-0282 in Folsom
Summary
by MITRE
OpenStack Keystone Grizzly before 2013.1, Folsom 2012.1.3 and earlier, and Essex does not properly check if the (1) user, (2) tenant, or (3) domain is enabled when using EC2-style authentication, which allows context-dependent attackers to bypass access restrictions.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/02/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2013-0282 represents a critical authentication bypass flaw within OpenStack Keystone authentication services, specifically affecting versions prior to the 2013.1 Grizzly release and earlier Folsom and Essex iterations. This issue resides in the EC2-style authentication mechanism that OpenStack provides to support Amazon Web Services compatibility, creating a significant security gap that could allow unauthorized access to cloud resources. The flaw manifests when the system fails to properly validate the enabled status of users, tenants, or domains during authentication processes, effectively permitting malicious actors to exploit the authentication flow even when accounts have been explicitly disabled or restricted.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient validation checks within the authentication pipeline of Keystone's EC2 compatibility layer. When EC2-style credentials are processed, the system should verify that all associated entities - including the user account, the tenant organization, and the domain context - are actively enabled and authorized for access. However, the vulnerable implementations bypass these crucial checks, allowing authentication requests to proceed regardless of the entity's enabled status. This represents a direct violation of the principle of least privilege and proper access control enforcement that should be fundamental to any authentication system. The flaw operates at the identity and access management layer, where the system should enforce strict validation before granting access rights.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends far beyond simple authentication bypass, creating potential for extensive unauthorized access to cloud infrastructure resources. Attackers could leverage this weakness to gain access to compute instances, storage volumes, and network configurations belonging to disabled users or organizations, effectively undermining the entire access control framework that Keystone is designed to enforce. The context-dependent nature of the vulnerability means that it can be exploited in scenarios where legitimate users have been disabled due to security concerns, policy violations, or account compromises, yet their credentials remain functional for unauthorized access. This creates a dangerous situation where compromised accounts or disabled users continue to pose security risks to cloud deployments. The vulnerability also affects multi-tenant environments where domain-level access controls are critical for maintaining separation between different organizations or business units within the same cloud infrastructure.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2013-0282 require immediate implementation of version upgrades to patched OpenStack Keystone releases, specifically targeting the 2013.1 Grizzly release or later versions that contain the necessary authentication validation fixes. Organizations should also implement comprehensive audit procedures to identify and disable any accounts that may have been compromised or are no longer required, ensuring that the authentication system operates with proper access control enforcement. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-284, which addresses improper access control, and relates to ATT&CK technique T1078 for valid accounts, as it allows adversaries to maintain access through potentially disabled but still functional accounts. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing additional authentication layers such as two-factor authentication and enhanced monitoring of authentication events to detect potential exploitation attempts. Regular security assessments of cloud infrastructure components and maintaining current patch management procedures are essential to prevent similar vulnerabilities from persisting in the environment.
This vulnerability serves as a critical reminder of the importance of proper authentication validation in cloud environments, where weak access controls can lead to severe security breaches. The flaw demonstrates how compatibility features in cloud platforms can inadvertently introduce security weaknesses when not properly validated against core security principles. Organizations relying on OpenStack deployments must ensure that authentication systems maintain rigorous validation checks for all authenticated entities to prevent unauthorized access through enabled status bypass mechanisms. The remediation process should also include comprehensive testing of authentication flows to verify that all access control checks are properly enforced and that disabled accounts cannot be used to gain unauthorized access to cloud resources.