CVE-2015-3163 in Beaker
Summary
by MITRE
The admin pages for power types and key types in Beaker before 20.1 do not have any access controls, which allows remote authenticated users to modify power types and key types via navigating to $BEAKER/powertypes and $BEAKER/keytypes respectively.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/13/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2015-3163 affects the Beaker automation platform version 20.1 and earlier, specifically targeting the administrative interfaces responsible for managing power types and key types within the system. This represents a critical access control flaw that undermines the security posture of the platform by allowing unauthorized modification of core infrastructure components. The vulnerability exists in the administrative web pages that handle power type and key type configurations, which are essential for managing hardware resources and authentication mechanisms within the automated testing environment.
The technical flaw stems from the complete absence of access controls on the administrative endpoints dedicated to power types and key types management. When authenticated users navigate to the specific URLs $BEAKER/powertypes and $BEAKER/keytypes, they can directly modify these critical configuration parameters without proper authorization checks. This design flaw violates fundamental security principles of least privilege and access control enforcement, allowing any authenticated user to potentially escalate their privileges or compromise system integrity. The vulnerability is classified as a weakness in authorization controls under CWE-285, specifically related to insufficient access control mechanisms.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant as it enables remote authenticated attackers to manipulate core system configurations that govern how hardware resources are powered and managed within the Beaker environment. Attackers could potentially modify power types to disable critical hardware components or alter key types to compromise authentication mechanisms, leading to complete system compromise. This vulnerability undermines the trust model of the platform, as it allows any authenticated user to modify infrastructure configuration parameters that should typically be restricted to administrators or privileged personnel. The attack surface is further expanded due to the remote nature of the vulnerability, meaning attackers do not need physical access or local system privileges to exploit this weakness.
The security implications extend beyond simple configuration modification, as power type and key type configurations directly impact system availability and authentication integrity. An attacker could potentially disable power management functionality, causing system outages, or modify key types to bypass authentication mechanisms and gain unauthorized access to other system components. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1068, which involves exploiting legitimate credentials to gain access to systems, and T1543, which covers creating or modifying system level execution mechanisms. Organizations using affected versions of Beaker should immediately implement mitigations including access control enforcement, network segmentation, and monitoring of administrative endpoints to detect unauthorized modifications to critical system parameters.
The remediation approach involves upgrading to Beaker version 20.1 or later, which includes proper access control implementations for administrative interfaces. Additionally, organizations should implement network-level controls to restrict access to administrative endpoints, enforce multi-factor authentication for privileged access, and establish comprehensive monitoring of administrative activities. Security configurations should include proper role-based access controls that ensure only authorized administrators can modify power types and key types, thereby preventing unauthorized modifications that could compromise system integrity and availability.