CVE-2017-8021 in Elastic Cloud Storage
Summary
by MITRE
EMC Elastic Cloud Storage (ECS) before 3.1 is affected by an undocumented account vulnerability that could potentially be leveraged by malicious users to compromise the affected system.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/21/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-8021 affects EMC Elastic Cloud Storage versions prior to 3.1, representing a critical security flaw that undermines the integrity of the system's authentication mechanisms. This issue stems from an undocumented account vulnerability that operates outside the normal security parameters expected in enterprise storage solutions, creating a potential backdoor for unauthorized access. The flaw exists within the authentication subsystem of ECS, where legitimate administrative accounts can be accessed through unexpected pathways that bypass standard security controls. Security researchers discovered that this vulnerability allows malicious actors to exploit weak account management practices that were not properly documented or secured within the product's architecture.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves a misconfiguration in the account handling processes that permits unauthorized users to gain access to administrative functions without proper authentication. This flaw specifically targets the account management interface where legitimate users with appropriate privileges can be compromised through undocumented access vectors. The vulnerability operates by exploiting inconsistencies in how the system validates account credentials and manages access control lists, allowing attackers to potentially escalate privileges or gain unauthorized administrative access to the storage infrastructure. This type of vulnerability aligns with CWE-287, which addresses improper authentication issues in software systems, and represents a significant weakness in the identity and access management components of the ECS platform.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability creates substantial risk for organizations deploying EMC Elastic Cloud Storage solutions, as it could enable attackers to compromise entire storage environments without detection. The impact extends beyond simple unauthorized access to include potential data exfiltration, system manipulation, and service disruption that could affect business continuity. Organizations relying on ECS for critical data storage operations face increased exposure to cyber threats, particularly from sophisticated attackers who may leverage this vulnerability to establish persistent access to their storage infrastructure. The undocumented nature of the vulnerability makes it particularly dangerous as security teams may not be aware of the specific attack vectors available to adversaries, complicating incident response and mitigation efforts.
The exploitation of CVE-2017-8021 aligns with several tactics outlined in the MITRE ATT&CK framework, particularly those related to credential access and privilege escalation. Attackers could potentially use this vulnerability to move laterally within storage networks, access sensitive data repositories, or establish footholds for more extensive attacks on connected systems. Security professionals should consider this vulnerability as part of their comprehensive threat modeling exercises, especially when evaluating the security posture of cloud storage infrastructures. The remediation approach requires immediate implementation of the vendor-provided patches for ECS versions 3.1 and later, alongside comprehensive review of account management policies and access control configurations. Organizations should also conduct thorough security assessments of their existing ECS deployments to identify any potential exploitation attempts and implement monitoring controls to detect unusual account access patterns that might indicate exploitation of this vulnerability.