CVE-2018-17954 in Openstack Cloud
Summary
by MITRE
A Least Privilege Violation vulnerability in crowbar of SUSE OpenStack Cloud 7, SUSE OpenStack Cloud 8, SUSE OpenStack Cloud 9, SUSE OpenStack Cloud Crowbar 8, SUSE OpenStack Cloud Crowbar 9 allows root users on any crowbar managed node to cause become root on any other node. This issue affects: SUSE OpenStack Cloud 7 crowbar-core versions prior to 4.0+git.1578392992.fabfd186c-9.63.1, crowbar-. SUSE OpenStack Cloud 8 ardana-cinder versions prior to 8.0+git.1579279939.ee7da88-3.39.3, ardana-. SUSE OpenStack Cloud 9 ardana-ansible versions prior to 9.0+git.1581611758.f694f7d-3.16.1, ardana-. SUSE OpenStack Cloud Crowbar 8 crowbar-core versions prior to 5.0+git.1582968668.1a55c77c5-3.35.4, crowbar-. SUSE OpenStack Cloud Crowbar 9 crowbar-core versions prior to 6.0+git.1582892022.cbd70e833-3.19.3, crowbar-.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/13/2024
This vulnerability represents a critical least privilege violation in the crowbar management framework used across multiple SUSE OpenStack Cloud versions, fundamentally undermining the security model of distributed cloud infrastructure. The flaw allows a malicious root user on any managed node to escalate privileges and gain root access to other nodes within the same crowbar-managed cluster, effectively breaking the isolation boundaries that should exist between different nodes in a cloud environment. This issue manifests as a privilege escalation vulnerability where the attacker's root access on one node can be leveraged to compromise the entire cluster's security posture.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from inadequate access controls and privilege separation mechanisms within the crowbar core components that manage the OpenStack cloud infrastructure. The affected versions of crowbar-core, ardana-cinder, and ardana-ansible components fail to properly enforce authorization checks when processing cross-node operations, allowing unauthorized privilege elevation through manipulation of management protocols or shared administrative interfaces. This represents a classic case of insufficient privilege checking where the system does not adequately validate whether the requesting entity has proper authorization to perform operations on remote nodes.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability creates a severe security risk for organizations deploying SUSE OpenStack Cloud solutions, as it essentially provides a backdoor mechanism for attackers who have already compromised one node to spread their control throughout the entire infrastructure. The attack vector leverages the legitimate administrative capabilities of the crowbar framework while exploiting design flaws that allow privilege escalation beyond intended boundaries. This vulnerability directly impacts the principle of least privilege and can lead to complete compromise of the cloud environment, potentially exposing sensitive data, disrupting services, and enabling further attacks on connected systems. The vulnerability affects multiple versions of the platform, indicating a systemic issue rather than an isolated problem, and requires immediate attention across affected deployments.
The security implications extend beyond simple privilege escalation to encompass potential data breaches and service disruption across the entire cloud infrastructure. Organizations utilizing these vulnerable versions should implement immediate mitigations including patching to the specified fixed versions, implementing additional network segmentation controls, and monitoring for unauthorized administrative access patterns. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-276 which describes improper privilege management, and maps to ATT&CK techniques involving privilege escalation and lateral movement within compromised networks. The remediation approach should include comprehensive security assessments of all crowbar-managed environments, implementation of proper access controls, and regular security audits to prevent similar issues in the future, while also considering the broader implications for cloud infrastructure security and the need for robust inter-node isolation mechanisms in distributed computing environments.