CVE-2019-3783 in Cloud Foundry Stratos
Summary
by MITRE
Cloud Foundry Stratos, versions prior to 2.3.0, deploys with a public default session store secret. A malicious user with default session store secret can brute force another user's current Stratos session, and act on behalf of that user.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/29/2023
Cloud Foundry Stratos represents a web-based application management platform that enables users to interact with cloud foundry environments through a graphical interface. The vulnerability identified as CVE-2019-3783 affects versions prior to 2.3.0 and stems from a critical misconfiguration in the session management component. This flaw manifests through the deployment of a publicly accessible default session store secret, which serves as a critical weakness in the authentication and authorization framework. The default secret value is predictable and well-known within the security community, creating an exploitable condition that undermines the fundamental security principles of session isolation and user authentication.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves the use of a hardcoded default session store secret that remains unchanged in production deployments. When Stratos applications are installed without proper secret customization, the system relies on this default value for encrypting and decrypting session data. This creates a scenario where any malicious actor who can obtain this default secret can perform session hijacking attacks against other users. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and directly impacts the session management subsystem, making it particularly dangerous as it allows for privilege escalation and unauthorized access to user sessions.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple session theft, as it enables attackers to perform actions as authenticated users within the Cloud Foundry environment. This includes accessing sensitive application data, modifying configurations, deploying new applications, and potentially escalating privileges to administrative levels depending on the user's role within the system. The attack vector is particularly concerning because it requires minimal technical expertise to execute, making it a high-value target for both malicious actors and automated exploitation tools. The vulnerability creates a persistent threat that remains active until the default secret is changed, potentially allowing attackers to maintain access over extended periods.
The security implications align with CWE-798, which addresses the use of hard-coded credentials, and represents a clear violation of the principle of least privilege. From an attack perspective, this vulnerability maps to techniques described in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under credential access and privilege escalation domains. Organizations using affected versions of Stratos face significant risk of unauthorized access to their cloud infrastructure, potentially leading to data breaches, service disruption, and compliance violations. The remediation strategy requires immediate implementation of unique session store secrets for each deployment, proper configuration management practices, and regular security audits to ensure that default values have been replaced with cryptographically secure random values.
Organizations should implement comprehensive monitoring solutions to detect unauthorized access attempts and establish automated processes for secret rotation. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of proper configuration management and the dangers of relying on default settings in security-critical applications. Security teams must conduct thorough assessments of their Cloud Foundry environments to identify all instances of Stratos that may be vulnerable, and ensure that proper security hardening practices are implemented across all deployment environments. This includes establishing policies for secure secret management, implementing configuration management tools, and conducting regular penetration testing to validate the effectiveness of security controls.