CVE-2017-14390 in Cloud Foundry
Summary
by MITRE
In Cloud Foundry Foundation cf-deployment v0.35.0, a misconfiguration with Loggregator and syslog-drain causes logs to be drained to unintended locations.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/10/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-14390 affects the Cloud Foundry Foundation cf-deployment version 0.35.0 and represents a critical misconfiguration issue within the Loggregator and syslog-drain components. This flaw enables unauthorized log data redirection to unintended destinations, creating significant security implications for cloud environments that rely on proper logging and monitoring practices. The issue stems from improper configuration of the logging infrastructure that governs how application logs are collected, processed, and transmitted throughout the Cloud Foundry platform. When syslog-drain functionality is improperly configured, it can inadvertently expose sensitive application data to external systems that should not have access to such information.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability lies in the incorrect handling of syslog drain configurations within the Cloud Foundry deployment manifest. Loggregator serves as the central logging component responsible for collecting and forwarding application logs, while syslog-drain provides the mechanism for directing these logs to external syslog servers. The misconfiguration occurs when the deployment configuration fails to properly validate or enforce access controls on syslog drain endpoints, allowing malicious actors to potentially manipulate the logging pipeline. This misconfiguration can result in logs being sent to unauthorized third-party systems, potentially exposing sensitive application data, user information, and system internals to unintended recipients. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because logging data often contains credentials, session information, and other sensitive operational details that could be exploited by attackers.
The operational impact of CVE-2017-14390 extends beyond simple data exposure, affecting compliance requirements, incident response capabilities, and overall security posture of Cloud Foundry deployments. Organizations relying on proper logging for security monitoring may experience false negatives in threat detection, as legitimate security events could be redirected to unauthorized locations or lost entirely. The vulnerability also creates potential audit trail issues, as security teams cannot guarantee the integrity and completeness of their log data. From a compliance perspective, this misconfiguration could result in violations of data protection regulations such as gdpr, hipaa, or soc 2 requirements that mandate proper handling and protection of log data. The impact is further amplified in multi-tenant environments where logs from different applications might be inadvertently shared across tenant boundaries, creating cross-tenant data leakage scenarios.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should focus on immediate configuration hardening and ongoing monitoring of logging infrastructure. Organizations should implement strict validation of syslog drain endpoints during deployment, ensuring that only authorized and secure destinations receive log data. The recommended approach includes enforcing access control lists for syslog drain configurations, implementing certificate validation for external log destinations, and conducting regular audits of logging configurations. Security teams should also establish monitoring rules to detect unexpected log destinations or unusual logging patterns that might indicate unauthorized redirection. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing network segmentation and firewall rules to prevent unauthorized access to syslog drain endpoints. The fix typically involves updating the cf-deployment manifest to properly configure the syslog-drain settings and ensuring that the deployment process validates these configurations before applying changes. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-284 Access Control Issues and can be mapped to ATT&CK technique T1070.004 Indicator Removal on Host, as the improper logging configuration could mask malicious activities by redirecting logs to unauthorized locations. Organizations should also implement comprehensive logging and monitoring solutions that can detect and alert on configuration changes that might introduce similar vulnerabilities in the future.