CVE-2022-2238 in Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes
Summary
by MITRE • 09/02/2022
A vulnerability was found in the search-api container in Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes when a query in the search filter gets parsed by the backend. This flaw allows an attacker to craft specific strings containing special characters that lead to crashing the pod and affects system availability while restarting.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/11/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2022-2238 resides within the search-api container of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes, representing a critical flaw in the system's backend query parsing mechanism. This vulnerability specifically targets the search filter functionality that processes user input through the backend infrastructure, creating a pathway for malicious actors to exploit the system's handling of specially crafted input strings. The issue manifests when the system processes search queries that contain specific combinations of special characters, which triggers an unexpected behavior in the parsing logic that ultimately results in system instability.
The technical nature of this vulnerability can be categorized under CWE-20, which represents improper input validation, and more specifically aligns with CWE-129, indicating improper handling of input buffers. The flaw operates by exploiting the backend's inability to properly sanitize or validate the special character sequences within search filter queries, allowing attackers to inject malformed input that causes the search-api container to crash. This type of vulnerability falls under the ATT&CK technique T1499.004, which covers network denial of service attacks through resource consumption or system crashes, demonstrating how this vulnerability can be leveraged to disrupt service availability.
The operational impact of CVE-2022-2238 extends beyond simple system instability, as the pod crash directly affects the availability of the search functionality within the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management platform. When the search-api container crashes and restarts, it creates a denial of service condition that prevents legitimate users from performing search operations within the Kubernetes cluster management interface. This disruption can severely impact cluster administrators who rely on search capabilities to navigate and manage their containerized environments, potentially leading to operational delays and reduced system responsiveness during critical maintenance or troubleshooting activities.
Organizations utilizing Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes should implement immediate mitigations to address this vulnerability, including applying the vendor-provided security patches as soon as they become available. Network segmentation and input validation controls should be strengthened to filter potentially malicious search queries before they reach the backend parsing components. Additionally, monitoring solutions should be enhanced to detect unusual patterns in search API usage that might indicate exploitation attempts, while implementing rate limiting mechanisms to prevent abuse of the search functionality. The vulnerability highlights the importance of robust input validation in API endpoints and demonstrates how seemingly benign functionality can become a vector for system disruption when proper sanitization controls are absent.