CVE-2022-29556 in Mender Enterprise
Summary
by MITRE • 04/29/2022
The iot-manager microservice 1.0.0 in Northern.tech Mender Enterprise before 3.2.2 allows SSRF because the Azure IoT Hub integration provides several SSRF primitives that can execute cross-tenant actions via internal API endpoints.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/04/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2022-29556 represents a critical server-side request forgery flaw within the iot-manager microservice version 1.0.0 of Northern.tech Mender Enterprise. This issue affects versions prior to 3.2.2 and stems from insufficient input validation and authorization controls within the Azure IoT Hub integration component. The flaw enables attackers to manipulate internal API endpoints through crafted requests, potentially allowing unauthorized cross-tenant actions that compromise the integrity of the IoT device management platform.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability occurs through multiple SSRF primitives that are exposed during the Azure IoT Hub integration process. These primitives allow malicious actors to construct requests that bypass normal network segmentation and access internal system resources that should remain isolated from external or unauthorized internal access. The vulnerability specifically manifests when the iot-manager service processes requests containing manipulated endpoint references that point to internal Azure IoT Hub APIs, enabling attackers to leverage the service's legitimate authorization context to perform actions against other tenant resources within the same infrastructure.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risks to organizations using Northern.tech Mender Enterprise for IoT device management. Attackers could potentially access, modify, or delete IoT device registrations, configurations, and telemetry data belonging to other tenants within the same Mender deployment. The cross-tenant nature of the vulnerability means that a compromised tenant could gain access to sensitive data and operational controls of neighboring tenants, effectively breaking the multi-tenancy security model that the platform is designed to maintain. This could result in data breaches, service disruption, and unauthorized device management operations that undermine the entire IoT infrastructure.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-918, Server-Side Request Forgery, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1190, Exploit Public-Facing Application, as it exploits the public-facing iot-manager service to access internal system resources. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including validating and sanitizing all input parameters that are passed to external services, implementing strict network segmentation between internal and external components, and restricting the iot-manager service's access to internal APIs through proper authorization controls. The recommended long-term solution involves upgrading to Mender Enterprise version 3.2.2 or later, which includes proper input validation and authorization checks that prevent the exploitation of these SSRF primitives. Additional defensive measures should include monitoring for unusual patterns in API requests that might indicate attempted exploitation and implementing rate limiting to prevent automated exploitation attempts.