CVE-2018-10550 in Octopus Deploy
Summary
by MITRE
In Octopus Deploy before 2018.4.7, target and tenant tag variable scopes were not checked against the list of tenants the user has access to.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/08/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-10550 affects Octopus Deploy versions prior to 2018.4.7, representing a critical access control flaw that undermines the security posture of deployment automation platforms. This issue specifically targets the variable scoping mechanisms within the Octopus Deploy system, where target and tenant tag variable scopes fail to validate against the user's authorized tenant access list. The flaw exists in the privilege escalation and access control enforcement logic that governs how variables are resolved and applied during deployment processes.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient authorization checks within the variable resolution pipeline of Octopus Deploy. When users attempt to access or manipulate variables that are scoped to specific targets or tenant tags, the system does not properly verify whether the authenticated user possesses the necessary permissions to access those particular tenant resources. This oversight creates a path for unauthorized information disclosure and potential privilege escalation attacks where malicious actors can access variables and configuration data belonging to tenants they should not be authorized to view or modify.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability enables attackers to gain unauthorized access to sensitive deployment configurations, environment-specific variables, and tenant-related metadata that should be restricted to authorized personnel only. The flaw particularly affects organizations that rely on tenant isolation for security segmentation, as it allows lateral movement between tenant environments through variable access. Attackers could potentially extract database connection strings, API keys, credentials, and other sensitive configuration data that are scoped to different tenants within the same deployment instance.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-284, which addresses improper access control issues, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1078 for valid accounts and T1566 for credential harvesting through application vulnerabilities. Organizations using Octopus Deploy with multi-tenant configurations face significant risk exposure, particularly in environments where different tenants represent distinct business units, clients, or security domains. The impact extends beyond simple information disclosure to potential system compromise through the access of deployment credentials and configuration parameters that could facilitate further attacks.
Mitigation strategies should prioritize immediate upgrade to Octopus Deploy version 2018.4.7 or later, which contains the necessary authorization enforcement fixes. Additionally, organizations should implement regular access control audits, review tenant permissions, and establish monitoring for unauthorized variable access attempts. Network segmentation and additional authentication layers should complement the platform-level fixes to reduce the overall attack surface. Security teams must also conduct comprehensive vulnerability assessments of their deployment environments to identify any potential exploitation attempts that may have occurred prior to the patch implementation.