CVE-2018-15759 in Pivotal Cloud Foundry On Demand Services SDK
Summary
by MITRE
Pivotal Cloud Foundry On Demand Services SDK, versions prior to 0.24 contain an insecure method of verifying credentials. A remote unauthenticated malicious user may make many requests to the service broker with different credentials, allowing them to infer valid credentials and gain access to perform broker operations.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/11/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-15759 affects the Pivotal Cloud Foundry On Demand Services SDK, specifically versions prior to 0.24, presenting a critical security weakness in credential verification mechanisms. This flaw enables unauthorized actors to exploit the service broker's authentication process through a method that lacks proper security controls. The vulnerability stems from an insecure credential verification approach that does not adequately protect against brute force or credential guessing attacks. An attacker can exploit this weakness by making multiple requests to the service broker using various credential combinations, ultimately allowing them to deduce valid credentials through pattern recognition and repeated attempts.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves the service broker's authentication routine failing to implement proper rate limiting, account lockout mechanisms, or secure credential validation procedures. This insecure method allows malicious users to perform credential inference attacks without requiring prior authentication access, making the system particularly vulnerable to automated exploitation. The flaw operates at the application layer and specifically targets the service broker component of the Cloud Foundry platform, where authentication requests are processed. According to CWE classification, this vulnerability maps to CWE-307: "Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts," which directly addresses weak authentication mechanisms that do not adequately prevent automated attacks.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple credential theft, as successful exploitation allows attackers to perform unauthorized broker operations within the Cloud Foundry environment. This includes but is not limited to creating, modifying, or deleting service instances, potentially leading to service disruption, data exposure, or unauthorized resource consumption. The attack vector is particularly dangerous because it requires no initial authentication credentials, making it accessible to any remote attacker who can reach the service broker endpoint. This vulnerability affects the integrity and confidentiality of the Cloud Foundry platform's service broker functionality, potentially compromising the entire platform's security posture.
From an attack perspective, this vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1110.003: "Brute Force: Password Guessing," where adversaries attempt to gain access through repeated login attempts with different credential combinations. The insecure implementation allows for rapid credential testing without detection mechanisms, making it an attractive target for automated exploitation tools. Organizations using affected versions of the Pivotal Cloud Foundry On Demand Services SDK face significant risk of unauthorized access to their cloud services and potential compromise of sensitive data and infrastructure. The vulnerability demonstrates a critical failure in implementing proper authentication controls, which is fundamental to maintaining secure cloud service environments.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2018-15759 require immediate implementation of version updates to 0.24 or later, which contain proper credential verification mechanisms. Organizations should also implement rate limiting and request throttling controls on service broker endpoints to prevent excessive authentication attempts. Additional security measures include implementing account lockout procedures after failed authentication attempts, deploying intrusion detection systems to monitor for credential brute force activities, and establishing proper monitoring and alerting for suspicious authentication patterns. Network segmentation and access controls should be enforced to limit exposure of service broker endpoints to unauthorized users. Security teams must also conduct regular vulnerability assessments and penetration testing to identify similar insecure authentication implementations across their Cloud Foundry deployments. The fix addresses the underlying authentication weakness by implementing proper validation mechanisms that prevent credential inference attacks and ensure that authentication attempts are properly secured against automated exploitation.