CVE-2015-9282 in Pie Chart Panel Plugin
Summary
by MITRE
The Pie Chart Panel plugin through 2019-01-02 for Grafana is vulnerable to XSS via legend data or tooltip data. When a chart is included in a Grafana dashboard, this vulnerability could allow an attacker to gain remote unauthenticated access to the dashboard.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/06/2023
The CVE-2015-9282 vulnerability affects the Pie Chart Panel plugin for Grafana, a popular open-source platform for data visualization and monitoring. This vulnerability represents a cross-site scripting flaw that specifically targets the legend and tooltip data handling mechanisms within the plugin. The issue exists in versions of the plugin released through January 2019, making it a significant concern for organizations that have not updated their Grafana installations. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it allows attackers to inject malicious scripts into the dashboard interface, potentially compromising the entire monitoring environment.
The technical flaw manifests when the plugin processes user-supplied data for legend and tooltip elements within pie charts. When Grafana renders these visualizations, the plugin fails to properly sanitize or escape input data before displaying it in the browser context. This creates an opportunity for attackers to craft malicious payloads that get executed within the context of other users' browsers who view the affected dashboard. The vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and output encoding practices, which are fundamental security controls that should prevent such injection attacks. According to CWE classification, this vulnerability maps to CWE-79 Cross-site Scripting, specifically targeting the rendering of dynamic content in web interfaces.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution, as it can enable attackers to perform unauthorized actions within the Grafana environment. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability could potentially access sensitive monitoring data, manipulate dashboard configurations, or even establish persistent access to the Grafana instance. The unauthenticated nature of the attack means that any user with access to the vulnerable dashboard could be compromised, making the attack surface particularly broad. This vulnerability directly aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566.002 for initial access through spearphishing attachments and T1071.001 for application layer protocol usage, as it leverages web application vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access.
Organizations should immediately update to the latest version of the Pie Chart Panel plugin or remove it entirely from their Grafana installations. The recommended mitigation strategy includes implementing proper input validation and output encoding mechanisms, establishing network segmentation to limit access to monitoring dashboards, and deploying web application firewalls to detect and prevent such attacks. Additionally, administrators should conduct regular security assessments of all Grafana plugins to identify potential vulnerabilities. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of keeping third-party components updated and implementing defense-in-depth strategies for monitoring environments where sensitive data is displayed. Organizations should also consider implementing content security policies to further protect against XSS attacks and establish incident response procedures to quickly address potential exploitation attempts.