CVE-2022-42735 in ShenYu
Summary
by MITRE • 02/15/2023
Improper Privilege Management vulnerability in Apache Software Foundation Apache ShenYu. ShenYu Admin allows low-privilege low-level administrators create users with higher privileges than their own. This issue affects Apache ShenYu: 2.5.0. Upgrade to Apache ShenYu 2.5.1 or apply patch https://github.com/apache/shenyu/pull/3958 https://github.com/apache/shenyu/pull/3958 .
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/19/2025
The CVE-2022-42735 vulnerability represents a critical improper privilege management flaw within the Apache ShenYu API gateway platform, specifically affecting the administrative subsystem. This vulnerability resides in the user management functionality of ShenYu Admin, where the system fails to properly validate privilege levels during user creation operations. The flaw enables low-level administrators to escalate their privileges by creating new user accounts with higher permission levels than their own current access rights. This misconfiguration fundamentally undermines the principle of least privilege and creates a significant security risk within the administrative hierarchy of the system.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate access control validation mechanisms within the user creation workflow. When a low-privilege administrator attempts to create a new user account, the system does not properly verify whether the new user's assigned privileges exceed the creating administrator's current access level. This allows attackers to bypass normal privilege escalation controls and potentially gain unauthorized administrative access. The vulnerability manifests as a failure in input validation and privilege verification logic, where the system accepts privilege levels without proper authorization checks. According to CWE guidelines, this maps to CWE-276: Incorrect Permission Assignment, which specifically addresses improper access control and privilege management issues.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple privilege escalation, as it can lead to complete system compromise when exploited by malicious actors. An attacker with access to a low-level administrative account could create a new administrator account with full privileges, effectively bypassing the entire security model of the platform. This vulnerability particularly affects organizations that rely on role-based access control within their API management infrastructure, as it undermines the fundamental security assumptions of their administrative access controls. The potential for lateral movement within the system increases significantly, as compromised low-level accounts can be used to create persistent backdoors with elevated privileges. Organizations using Apache ShenYu 2.5.0 are particularly at risk, as this version contains the specific flaw that enables such privilege escalation attacks.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2022-42735 primarily involve upgrading to Apache ShenYu version 2.5.1 or applying the specific patch referenced in the vulnerability report. The patch referenced at https://github.com/apache/shenyu/pull/3958 addresses the core privilege validation issue by implementing proper access control checks during user creation operations. Organizations should also implement additional monitoring and logging of administrative user creation activities to detect potential exploitation attempts. Security teams should review existing user privilege assignments and conduct privilege audits to ensure no unauthorized elevated accounts exist. The vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1078.004: Valid Accounts, as it enables attackers to create legitimate administrative accounts with elevated privileges. Organizations should also consider implementing network segmentation and access control lists to limit administrative access points and reduce the attack surface for privilege escalation attempts.