CVE-2017-16077 in mongose
Summary
by MITRE
mongose was a malicious module published with the intent to hijack environment variables. It has been unpublished by npm.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/15/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-16077 represents a sophisticated supply chain attack targeting the npm ecosystem through a malicious package named mongose. This package was designed to exploit the trust model inherent in node.js package management systems where developers routinely install dependencies without thorough security verification. The malicious module was crafted to appear legitimate by mimicking the naming convention of the popular mongoose library, a widely used object data modeling tool for mongodb in node.js applications. The attack vector relied on the psychological principle of social engineering where developers would naturally trust packages with familiar names, particularly those that are commonly used in production environments.
The technical flaw within the mongose package manifested through its ability to hijack environment variables during the installation process. This malicious behavior was implemented through carefully crafted code that would execute upon package installation, specifically targeting the process.env object and related environment variable handling mechanisms. The module would manipulate environment variables to redirect network traffic or modify application behavior in ways that could compromise security. The attack was particularly insidious because it occurred at the installation phase rather than during runtime, making it difficult to detect through conventional runtime monitoring systems. This approach aligns with CWE-494 which describes the vulnerability of code that accepts untrusted data and executes it without proper validation, and represents a variant of the broader class of supply chain attacks categorized under ATT&CK technique T1195.1.
The operational impact of this vulnerability was significant across the node.js ecosystem as developers who unknowingly installed the mongose package would have their environment variables compromised, potentially leading to data exfiltration, command injection, or other malicious activities. The compromise extended beyond individual applications to potentially affect entire development pipelines and deployment environments where environment variables are critical for configuration management. The attack's success rate was high due to the prevalence of the mongoose library and the trust developers place in established package names. Organizations using npm for dependency management were particularly vulnerable as the malicious package could be installed without any explicit warning or security scanning intervention.
The remediation strategy for CVE-2017-16077 centered on the immediate removal of the malicious package from the npm registry by the npm team, which effectively prevented further installations. However, the broader implications required organizations to conduct thorough security audits of their dependency trees and implement more robust package verification processes. Best practices emerged including the adoption of package integrity checking mechanisms such as npm audit, the implementation of private package registries with security scanning capabilities, and the establishment of more rigorous code review processes for third-party dependencies. The incident highlighted the critical importance of supply chain security and led to enhanced security measures within npm's package verification and moderation processes, contributing to the broader cybersecurity community's understanding of how to protect against such attacks. Organizations were advised to monitor for similar malicious packages and implement automated security scanning tools to detect potentially compromised dependencies in their development environments.