CVE-2022-29153 in Consul
Summary
by MITRE • 04/19/2022
HashiCorp Consul and Consul Enterprise through 2022-04-12 allow SSRF.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/22/2022
HashiCorp Consul and Consul Enterprise versions prior to 2022-04-12 contain a server-side request forgery vulnerability that allows attackers to make unauthorized requests to internal systems. This vulnerability falls under the Common Weakness Enumeration category CWE-918, which specifically addresses server-side request forgery attacks. The flaw exists in the way Consul handles certain HTTP requests, particularly when processing forwarded requests or interacting with internal services through the agent's HTTP interface. Attackers can exploit this vulnerability by crafting malicious requests that cause the Consul agent to make HTTP requests to internal services that should normally be inaccessible from external networks.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and sanitization within Consul's HTTP request processing pipeline. When Consul receives requests containing specific headers or parameters that should be restricted, it fails to properly validate these inputs before forwarding them to internal endpoints. This allows an attacker to potentially access internal services, databases, or other systems that are typically protected by network segmentation. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because Consul agents often run with elevated privileges and have access to sensitive internal infrastructure components.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant for organizations using Consul for service discovery, configuration management, and security policy enforcement. An attacker who successfully exploits this SSRF vulnerability can potentially gain access to internal services, extract sensitive configuration data, or even escalate privileges within the service mesh environment. This represents a critical compromise of the network security posture since Consul serves as a central component in many enterprise service mesh architectures. The vulnerability can be exploited from external networks, making it particularly dangerous for organizations that expose Consul endpoints to untrusted parties.
Organizations should immediately upgrade to Consul version 2022-04-12 or later to remediate this vulnerability. The fix implemented by HashiCorp addresses the input validation issues in the HTTP request processing and ensures that forwarded requests are properly sanitized before being sent to internal services. Security teams should also implement network segmentation controls and monitor for suspicious HTTP traffic patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. Additional mitigations include configuring Consul agents to run with minimal necessary privileges and implementing strict firewall rules that limit access to Consul endpoints. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1190 which covers exploitation of remote services, and represents a critical risk for organizations relying on service mesh technologies for their infrastructure security.