CVE-2016-4326 in Chef Manage
Summary
by MITRE
The Chef Manage (formerly opscode-manage) add-on before 1.12.0 for Chef allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via crafted serialized data in a cookie.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/05/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-4326 represents a critical remote code execution flaw within Chef Manage, formerly known as opscode-manage, affecting versions prior to 1.12.0. This vulnerability resides in the application's handling of serialized data within HTTP cookies, creating a pathway for remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected systems. The flaw stems from insufficient input validation and sanitization mechanisms that process cookie data, allowing maliciously crafted serialized objects to be deserialized and executed within the application context.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability leverages the Java serialization mechanism, where the application deserializes cookie values without proper validation or sanitization. When an attacker crafts a malicious cookie containing serialized Java objects, the application's deserialization process executes the serialized code within the context of the Chef Manage service. This represents a classic deserialization vulnerability that can be exploited to achieve remote code execution, as the serialized data is processed without adequate security controls to prevent malicious object instantiation.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability poses severe risks to organizations utilizing Chef Manage for infrastructure automation and configuration management. The remote code execution capability allows attackers to gain full control over affected systems, potentially leading to complete compromise of the configuration management infrastructure. This could result in unauthorized access to sensitive configuration data, privilege escalation, data exfiltration, and the ability to modify or destroy critical infrastructure configurations. The vulnerability affects the entire Chef ecosystem, as the compromised Chef Manage instance could be used to pivot attacks against other systems within the network infrastructure.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-502, which specifically addresses "Deserialization of Untrusted Data," and represents a common pattern in application security where improper handling of serialized objects leads to arbitrary code execution. From an attacker's perspective, this vulnerability maps to ATT&CK technique T1059.007 for "Command and Scripting Interpreter: PowerShell" and T1566.001 for "Phishing: Spearphishing Attachment," as attackers could exploit this vulnerability through cookie manipulation or by delivering malicious payloads via compromised systems. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including upgrading to Chef Manage version 1.12.0 or later, implementing network segmentation to restrict access to the Chef Manage service, and monitoring for suspicious cookie patterns or unauthorized access attempts. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing web application firewalls and input validation controls to prevent deserialization of untrusted data, while also conducting thorough security assessments of all applications handling serialized data to identify similar vulnerabilities in their infrastructure.