CVE-2022-23452 in openstack-barbican
Summary
by MITRE • 09/02/2022
An authorization flaw was found in openstack-barbican, where anyone with an admin role could add secrets to a different project container. This flaw allows an attacker on the network to consume protected resources and cause a denial of service.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/11/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2022-23452 represents a critical authorization flaw within the openstack-barbican service that undermines the fundamental security boundaries of cloud infrastructure. This issue specifically affects the secret management capabilities of OpenStack environments where Barbican serves as the primary service for storing and managing sensitive information such as encryption keys, passwords, and certificates. The flaw manifests in the improper enforcement of access controls that should normally prevent users from manipulating resources belonging to other projects within the same cloud deployment.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate validation of project ownership during secret creation operations within the Barbican service. When an administrator with elevated privileges attempts to add secrets to a container, the system fails to properly verify whether the requesting user has legitimate access rights to the target project. This authorization bypass allows malicious actors to inject secrets into containers belonging to other projects, effectively compromising the isolation mechanisms that are essential for multi-tenant cloud environments. The flaw operates at the application layer and specifically impacts the REST API endpoints responsible for secret management operations.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple unauthorized access to encompass potential resource exhaustion and service disruption. An attacker exploiting this flaw can consume significant storage resources by adding numerous secrets to target projects, leading to denial of service conditions that affect legitimate users within those containers. Additionally, the presence of unauthorized secrets in project containers creates potential for data leakage and compromise of sensitive information that should remain isolated within specific project boundaries. This vulnerability particularly affects organizations relying on OpenStack for cloud infrastructure where proper resource isolation is critical for maintaining security compliance and protecting customer data.
From a cybersecurity perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-285, which addresses improper authorization issues in software systems, and represents a clear violation of the principle of least privilege. The flaw enables attackers to escalate their privileges through network-based attacks without requiring additional authentication credentials, making it particularly dangerous in environments where network segmentation is not robust. Organizations should consider this vulnerability in the context of the MITRE ATT&CK framework, specifically under the privilege escalation and defense evasion tactics, where adversaries can manipulate system resources to maintain persistent access while avoiding detection mechanisms.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2022-23452 should prioritize immediate patch deployment from OpenStack vendors and implementation of additional security controls. Organizations must ensure that all Barbican service instances receive the applicable security updates that correct the authorization validation logic. Network-level controls such as firewall rules and API gateway restrictions can provide additional defense-in-depth measures to limit access to Barbican endpoints. Regular auditing of secret containers and implementation of automated monitoring for unauthorized secret additions should be established to detect potential exploitation attempts. Furthermore, organizations should conduct comprehensive security assessments of their OpenStack deployments to identify similar authorization flaws in other services and ensure proper segregation of duties across administrative privileges.