CVE-2018-9039 in Octopus Deploy
Summary
by MITRE
In Octopus Deploy 2.0 and later before 2018.3.7, an authenticated user, with variable edit permissions, can scope some variables to targets greater than their permissions should allow. In other words, they can see machines beyond their team's scoped environments.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/24/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-9039 represents a critical access control flaw within Octopus Deploy versions 2.0 through 2018.3.6. This issue affects the platform's permission scoping mechanism, specifically targeting how variable scoping is handled for authenticated users with variable edit permissions. The flaw allows malicious or unauthorized users to bypass intended security boundaries and access target machines that should be restricted to their team's scoped environments.
This vulnerability stems from insufficient validation of user permissions during variable scoping operations within the deployment automation platform. When users with variable edit privileges attempt to configure variable scoping, the system fails to properly verify whether the user has adequate permissions to access the target environments and machines they are attempting to associate with variables. The technical implementation appears to lack proper authorization checks that would normally validate the relationship between user roles, team memberships, and target environment access rights. This misconfiguration creates a privilege escalation scenario where users can effectively see and potentially interact with systems outside their designated operational boundaries.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant for organizations relying on Octopus Deploy for continuous integration and deployment processes. Attackers or malicious insiders with variable edit permissions can gain visibility into systems and environments that should be restricted to specific teams or roles. This exposure could lead to information disclosure of sensitive infrastructure details, potential unauthorized access to production systems, and compromise of deployment workflows. The vulnerability essentially undermines the principle of least privilege that is fundamental to secure deployment automation platforms, allowing users to discover and potentially exploit systems beyond their intended scope.
From a cybersecurity perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-284 (Improper Access Control) and represents a clear violation of the principle of authorization enforcement. The flaw enables what is known as a "privilege escalation" attack vector where users can access resources beyond their assigned permissions, potentially leading to data breaches or system compromise. Organizations using Octopus Deploy should consider this vulnerability in their threat modeling and incident response planning, particularly when assessing insider threats or compromised user accounts. The ATT&CK framework would classify this as a privilege escalation technique, specifically related to access control bypass methods that allow adversaries to access restricted systems or data.
The recommended mitigation strategy involves upgrading to Octopus Deploy version 2018.3.7 or later, which includes fixes for the variable scoping permission validation. Organizations should also implement additional monitoring and auditing of variable scoping operations to detect unauthorized access attempts. Security teams should review and validate the current permission configurations, ensuring that variable edit permissions are properly scoped to align with team and environment access controls. Regular security assessments of deployment automation platforms should include validation of access control mechanisms and permission boundaries to prevent similar vulnerabilities from emerging in other components of the infrastructure.