CVE-2022-31007 in eLabFTW
Summary
by MITRE • 06/01/2022
eLabFTW is an electronic lab notebook manager for research teams. Prior to version 4.3.0, a vulnerability allows an authenticated user with an administrator role in a team to assign itself system administrator privileges within the application, or create a new system administrator account. The issue has been corrected in eLabFTW version 4.3.0. In the context of eLabFTW, an administrator is a user account with certain privileges to manage users and content in their assigned team/teams. A system administrator account can manage all accounts, teams and edit system-wide settings within the application. The impact is not deemed as high, as it requires the attacker to have access to an administrator account. Regular user accounts cannot exploit this to gain admin rights. A workaround for one if the issues is removing the ability of administrators to create accounts.
VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/04/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2022-31007 affects eLabFTW, an electronic lab notebook manager designed for research teams to collaborate on scientific documentation and data management. This application serves as a centralized platform for laboratory teams to maintain experimental records, share findings, and manage collaborative research projects. The security flaw exists within the privilege management system of the application, specifically targeting the administrative access controls that govern user permissions and system-wide configuration capabilities.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate access control validation within the application's authentication and authorization mechanisms. Prior to version 4.3.0, authenticated users holding administrator roles within specific teams could exploit a design flaw that allowed them to escalate their privileges to system administrator status. This vulnerability manifests through a privilege escalation mechanism where legitimate administrators can either assume system administrator privileges for themselves or create new system administrator accounts, effectively bypassing the intended role-based access controls that should separate team-level administration from global system administration.
The operational impact of this vulnerability, while not classified as high severity, represents a significant security concern within collaborative research environments where multiple users require different levels of access to sensitive experimental data and system configurations. The flaw requires an attacker to already possess an administrator account within a specific team, which means regular users cannot exploit this vulnerability directly. However, the consequence of successful exploitation allows the attacker to gain unrestricted access to all accounts, teams, and system-wide settings, potentially compromising the integrity and confidentiality of research data across the entire platform. This aligns with CWE-276, which addresses improper privileges and insufficient access control mechanisms in software applications. The vulnerability essentially undermines the principle of least privilege by allowing team administrators to elevate their access beyond their intended scope.
The mitigation strategy for this vulnerability involves upgrading to eLabFTW version 4.3.0 or later, which implements proper access control validation and prevents the privilege escalation described in the vulnerability. Additionally, security administrators can implement a temporary workaround by removing the account creation privileges from team administrators, effectively limiting the scope of potential exploitation. This remediation approach addresses the underlying issue by enforcing stricter separation between team-level administrative functions and system-wide administrative capabilities, as recommended by the ATT&CK framework's privilege escalation techniques. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper access control implementation and the potential risks when administrative privileges can be easily escalated within collaborative platforms, particularly in research environments where data integrity and access control are paramount. Organizations using eLabFTW should implement comprehensive access control policies and regularly review user permissions to ensure that administrative privileges are appropriately restricted and monitored.