CVE-2018-14432 in OpenStack
Summary
by MITRE
In the Federation component of OpenStack Keystone before 11.0.4, 12.0.0, and 13.0.0, an authenticated "GET /v3/OS-FEDERATION/projects" request may bypass intended access restrictions on listing projects. An authenticated user may discover projects they have no authority to access, leaking all projects in the deployment and their attributes. Only Keystone with the /v3/OS-FEDERATION endpoint enabled via policy.json is affected.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/27/2023
The vulnerability CVE-2018-14432 represents a critical access control flaw within the Federation component of OpenStack Keystone authentication service. This issue affects versions prior to 11.0.4, 12.0.0, and 13.0.0, specifically targeting deployments that have enabled the /v3/OS-FEDERATION endpoint through policy.json configuration. The flaw stems from inadequate authorization checks during project listing operations, allowing authenticated users to bypass intended access restrictions and discover projects they should not have visibility into. This represents a significant information disclosure vulnerability that undermines the core security principles of role-based access control and least privilege enforcement within cloud environments.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability occurs when an authenticated user makes a GET request to the /v3/OS-FEDERATION/projects endpoint. The system fails to properly validate user permissions against the projects being requested, allowing unauthorized access to project metadata and attributes across the entire deployment. This flaw operates at the policy enforcement level, where the authorization mechanisms that should restrict project visibility based on user roles and permissions are either absent or improperly implemented. The vulnerability specifically impacts the federation functionality that enables identity federation between different identity providers, creating a pathway for privilege escalation through information leakage rather than direct privilege manipulation.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple information disclosure, creating potential downstream security risks for cloud deployments. An authenticated attacker can enumerate all projects within the OpenStack environment, gaining insights into the organizational structure, resource allocation patterns, and potentially sensitive project attributes. This information leakage can facilitate further attacks by providing attackers with knowledge of target systems, project dependencies, and resource configurations. The vulnerability affects the fundamental trust model of cloud environments where access control is paramount, as it allows users to discover resources they should not be able to access, potentially enabling targeted attacks against specific projects or resource pools.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should implement immediate mitigations including upgrading to Keystone versions 11.0.4, 12.0.0, or 13.0.0 where the fix has been implemented. The upgrade process should be carefully planned to ensure compatibility with existing federation configurations and policies. Additionally, administrators should review and validate their policy.json configurations to ensure proper access controls are enforced at the federation endpoint level. Security monitoring should be enhanced to detect unusual access patterns to federation endpoints, and regular audits should verify that project visibility restrictions are properly enforced. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-284 Access Control Issues and maps to ATT&CK technique T1078 Valid Accounts, as it allows unauthorized access to resources through legitimate authentication mechanisms. The remediation process should include comprehensive testing of access controls to ensure that the fix properly enforces authorization policies and that no other similar vulnerabilities exist within the federation implementation.