CVE-2019-3889 in Container Platform
Summary
by MITRE
A reflected XSS vulnerability exists in authorization flow of OpenShift Container Platform versions: openshift-online-3, openshift-enterprise-3.4 through 3.7 and openshift-enterprise-3.9 through 3.11. An attacker could use this flaw to steal authorization data by getting them to click on a malicious link.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/26/2023
The vulnerability described in CVE-2019-3889 represents a critical reflected cross-site scripting flaw within the authorization flow of OpenShift Container Platform versions ranging from openshift-online-3 through openshift-enterprise-3.11. This security weakness specifically targets the platform's authentication and authorization mechanisms, creating a dangerous attack vector that could compromise user sessions and sensitive authorization data. The flaw exists in the way the platform processes user input during the authorization process, making it susceptible to malicious exploitation through carefully crafted web requests that can be delivered via phishing campaigns or compromised web pages.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and output encoding within the authorization flow components of the OpenShift platform. When users navigate to specific authorization endpoints with maliciously crafted parameters, the platform fails to properly sanitize or escape user-supplied input before reflecting it back in HTTP responses. This allows attackers to inject malicious JavaScript code that executes in the context of other users' browsers who click on the malicious links. The vulnerability is classified as a reflected XSS issue under CWE-79, which specifically addresses the improper handling of user-supplied data in web applications. The attack requires social engineering to convince victims to click on malicious links, but once executed, it can effectively hijack user sessions and potentially escalate privileges within the container platform environment.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data theft, as it can enable attackers to establish persistent access to containerized applications and services managed through OpenShift. An attacker who successfully exploits this flaw could access sensitive authorization tokens, session cookies, and other authentication artifacts that would allow them to impersonate legitimate users within the platform. This poses significant risks to container orchestration environments where multiple applications and services share the same platform infrastructure, potentially enabling lateral movement attacks and data exfiltration from critical enterprise workloads. The vulnerability affects both the online and enterprise versions of OpenShift, indicating it was present across multiple deployment models and could impact organizations using different licensing arrangements.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should implement immediate mitigations including deploying web application firewalls to filter malicious input patterns, implementing proper input validation and output encoding mechanisms, and conducting comprehensive security reviews of all authorization endpoints. The remediation strategy should involve upgrading to patched versions of OpenShift Container Platform where available, as well as implementing additional security controls such as content security policies and strict cookie security attributes. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1531 which focuses on establishing persistence through the manipulation of authentication processes, and represents a significant concern for organizations using container platforms where unauthorized access could lead to complete compromise of containerized application environments. The flaw demonstrates the critical importance of input sanitization in authentication flows and serves as a reminder that even seemingly secure platform components can contain dangerous vulnerabilities when user input is not properly handled.