CVE-2017-8187 in FusionSphere OpenStack
Summary
by MITRE
Huawei FusionSphere OpenStack V100R006C00SPC102(NFV) has a privilege escalation vulnerability. Due to improper privilege restrictions, an attacker with high privilege may obtain the other users' certificates. Successful exploit may cause privilege escalation.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/22/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-8187 affects Huawei FusionSphere OpenStack V100R006C00SPC102 within the NFV environment, representing a critical privilege escalation flaw that undermines the security model of the virtualized infrastructure. This vulnerability stems from inadequate privilege restrictions within the system's certificate management mechanisms, creating an exploitable condition where elevated privileges can be leveraged to access sensitive cryptographic materials belonging to other users. The flaw exists within the access control policies that should normally enforce strict isolation between user contexts, particularly in the certificate handling subsystem where authentication and authorization controls fail to properly validate user privileges during certificate retrieval operations.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability demonstrates a failure in the principle of least privilege enforcement, where the system does not adequately verify whether a high-privilege user has legitimate authorization to access certificate data belonging to other users. This weakness can be exploited through a privilege escalation vector that allows an attacker who has already gained elevated access to the system to bypass normal access controls and retrieve certificates from other user accounts. The underlying flaw typically manifests in the certificate management API or service where access controls are improperly implemented, enabling unauthorized certificate access through manipulation of privilege levels or by exploiting race conditions in certificate access routines.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple certificate theft, as compromised certificates can be used to impersonate legitimate users or systems within the OpenStack environment, potentially leading to further compromise of the entire virtualized infrastructure. Attackers could leverage stolen certificates to gain unauthorized access to cloud resources, manipulate virtual machine instances, or establish persistent access points within the network. This vulnerability particularly affects NFV deployments where certificate-based authentication is critical for maintaining the integrity of network functions and virtualized services, potentially undermining the security posture of entire telecommunications infrastructure implementations.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including strict enforcement of access controls, regular privilege audits, and enhanced monitoring of certificate access patterns to detect anomalous behavior. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-284, which addresses improper access control, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1078 for valid accounts and T1552 for credentials from password stores, demonstrating how this flaw can enable broader exploitation patterns. System administrators should conduct comprehensive privilege reviews, implement mandatory access controls, and ensure proper certificate lifecycle management practices to prevent unauthorized certificate access. Additionally, network segmentation and continuous monitoring of certificate access logs should be deployed to detect potential exploitation attempts and maintain the integrity of the virtualized environment's security controls.