CVE-2017-6199 in Sandstorm
Summary
by MITRE
A remote attacker could bypass the Sandstorm organization restriction before build 0.203 via a comma in an email-address field.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/03/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-6199 represents a critical authorization bypass flaw within the Sandstorm platform ecosystem. This issue affected versions prior to build 0.203 and specifically targeted the organization restriction mechanisms that were designed to prevent unauthorized access to shared resources. The vulnerability stemmed from insufficient input validation within the email address parsing functionality, creating a pathway for malicious actors to exploit the system's access controls.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability exploited a parsing edge case in how Sandstorm handled email addresses containing comma characters. When users entered email addresses with commas in the organization membership fields, the system failed to properly sanitize or validate these inputs, allowing attackers to craft malicious email addresses that would bypass the intended organizational boundaries. This parsing failure occurred at the application layer where user inputs were processed without adequate security checks, creating a direct path for privilege escalation.
The operational impact of this vulnerability was significant as it allowed remote attackers to gain unauthorized access to resources that should have been restricted to specific organizational members. Attackers could potentially access shared applications, data, and services within Sandstorm organizations by simply including a comma in their email address field during registration or membership requests. This bypass effectively neutralized the organization-based access control mechanisms that were fundamental to Sandstorm's security model, exposing sensitive information and system resources to unauthorized parties.
This vulnerability aligns with CWE-20, which describes improper input validation, and demonstrates characteristics consistent with attack patterns documented in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under privilege escalation and defense evasion techniques. The flaw represents a classic case of insufficient sanitization of user inputs, where the system failed to properly handle special characters that could be used to manipulate the parsing logic. Organizations using Sandstorm platforms were particularly vulnerable as this issue affected the core access control mechanisms that protected shared resources and collaborative environments.
The recommended mitigations for this vulnerability include immediate patching to build 0.203 or later versions where the input validation has been properly implemented. Security administrators should also implement additional monitoring for unusual email address patterns and conduct thorough input validation across all user registration and membership fields. Organizations should review their existing access control policies and verify that no unauthorized access has occurred due to this vulnerability, particularly focusing on shared resources and collaborative environments where the bypass could have been exploited to gain elevated privileges or access to sensitive data.