CVE-2023-22462 in Grafana
Summary
by MITRE • 03/02/2023
Grafana is an open-source platform for monitoring and observability. On 2023-01-01 during an internal audit of Grafana, a member of the security team found a stored XSS vulnerability affecting the core plugin "Text". The stored XSS vulnerability requires several user interactions in order to be fully exploited. The vulnerability was possible due to React's render cycle that will pass though the unsanitized HTML code, but in the next cycle the HTML is cleaned up and saved in Grafana's database. An attacker needs to have the Editor role in order to change a Text panel to include JavaScript. Another user needs to edit the same Text panel, and click on "Markdown" or "HTML" for the code to be executed. This means that vertical privilege escalation is possible, where a user with Editor role can change to a known password for a user having Admin role if the user with Admin role executes malicious JavaScript viewing a dashboard. This issue has been patched in versions 9.2.10 and 9.3.4.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/02/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2023-22462 represents a sophisticated stored cross-site scripting flaw within the Grafana monitoring platform that demonstrates the complex interplay between front-end rendering and back-end data persistence. This security weakness specifically affects the core Text plugin component and exposes organizations to significant risks through its multi-stage exploitation process that requires coordinated user interactions. The vulnerability was discovered during an internal audit, highlighting the importance of continuous security assessments in open-source environments where threat actors may exploit subtle implementation gaps. The flaw manifests in Grafana's React-based rendering architecture where unsanitized HTML content flows through the application's render cycle before being persisted to the database, creating a window of opportunity for malicious code injection.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability requires a specific sequence of user actions that demonstrates the complexity of modern web application security challenges. An attacker must first obtain the Editor role, which represents a baseline privilege level that many organizations consider acceptable for collaborative dashboard creation. However, this vulnerability enables vertical privilege escalation by allowing an Editor-level user to inject malicious JavaScript code into a Text panel that will execute when another user with sufficient privileges views the dashboard. The attack requires multiple steps including the initial injection by the attacker, followed by a second user editing the same panel and triggering the HTML or Markdown rendering modes, which then executes the stored malicious code. This multi-stage process aligns with ATT&CK technique T1059.001 for command and scripting interpreter and demonstrates how seemingly benign features can become attack vectors when proper input sanitization is absent.
The operational impact of CVE-2023-22462 extends beyond simple code execution to potentially enable complete administrative compromise of Grafana instances. When an administrator views a dashboard containing the malicious JavaScript, the stored XSS payload can execute with the administrator's privileges, allowing attackers to access sensitive monitoring data, modify dashboard configurations, or even exfiltrate credentials from the Grafana application. The vulnerability's requirement for multiple user interactions actually reduces its immediate impact but increases its potential for targeted attacks where attackers can manipulate specific users to trigger the exploit. Organizations using Grafana for critical monitoring operations face significant risk as this vulnerability could allow attackers to gain insights into system vulnerabilities or compromise the integrity of their monitoring infrastructure. The fact that this vulnerability affects the core Text plugin makes it particularly dangerous as this component is widely used across dashboard configurations.
The remediation for this vulnerability required patching in Grafana versions 9.2.10 and 9.3.4, which implemented proper input sanitization and output encoding mechanisms to prevent the storage and execution of malicious HTML content. This fix aligns with CWE-79 which categorizes cross-site scripting vulnerabilities as a critical security weakness in web applications. Organizations should prioritize updating their Grafana installations to these patched versions while also implementing additional security controls such as role-based access restrictions and regular security audits of dashboard configurations. The vulnerability serves as a reminder of the importance of proper content sanitization in web applications and demonstrates how even well-established platforms can contain subtle flaws that require careful analysis of rendering pipelines and data persistence mechanisms. Security teams should also consider implementing web application firewalls and monitoring for suspicious dashboard modifications, particularly those involving text-based components that may be susceptible to similar vulnerabilities.