CVE-2015-5202 in Satellite
Summary
by MITRE
Red Hat Satellite 6 allows remote authenticated users with privileged access on a content host to authenticate to the capsule broker or server broker.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/14/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2015-5202 affects Red Hat Satellite 6 systems, which are enterprise-level infrastructure management platforms designed to manage large-scale IT environments. This issue represents a critical privilege escalation flaw that enables authenticated users with specific access rights to bypass normal authentication mechanisms and gain unauthorized access to core system components. The vulnerability specifically targets the capsule broker and server broker functionalities within the Satellite 6 architecture, which serve as critical communication endpoints for managing content hosts and system configurations.
The technical flaw stems from insufficient access controls and authentication mechanisms within the Satellite 6 platform's broker architecture. When an authenticated user with privileged access to a content host attempts to establish connections to the capsule broker or server broker, the system fails to properly validate the user's authorization level for these specific broker services. This weakness allows the attacker to authenticate using credentials that should be restricted to higher-privilege operations, effectively elevating their access level beyond what was originally intended. The vulnerability manifests through improper session management and insufficient validation of authentication tokens when transitioning between different broker services.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe as it provides attackers with unauthorized access to critical system components that control content distribution, configuration management, and system monitoring functions. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability could potentially compromise the entire Satellite 6 infrastructure, gain access to sensitive configuration data, manipulate content delivery, and potentially escalate privileges further to access other systems within the managed environment. This vulnerability particularly affects organizations that rely heavily on Red Hat Satellite 6 for managing their enterprise infrastructure, as it undermines the fundamental security model that separates different privilege levels within the system.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including updating to patched versions of Red Hat Satellite 6, reviewing and strengthening access controls for content hosts, implementing network segmentation to limit access to broker services, and conducting thorough audits of user privileges and authentication mechanisms. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-285, which addresses improper authorization issues, and maps to ATT&CK techniques related to privilege escalation and lateral movement within enterprise environments. Security teams should also consider implementing additional monitoring for unauthorized broker connections and authentication attempts to detect potential exploitation of this vulnerability.