CVE-2023-22495 in Izanami
Summary
by MITRE • 01/14/2023
Izanami is a shared configuration service well-suited for micro-service architecture implementation. Attackers can bypass the authentication in this application when deployed using the official Docker image. Because a hard coded secret is used to sign the authentication token (JWT), an attacker could compromise another instance of Izanami. This issue has been patched in version 1.11.0.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/14/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2023-22495 affects Izanami, a configuration service designed for micro-service architectures that provides shared configuration management capabilities. This service operates as a centralized solution for managing application settings across distributed systems, making it a critical component in modern cloud-native environments where multiple services need consistent configuration data. The vulnerability arises specifically when the application is deployed using the official Docker image, indicating that the issue is not inherent to the core software but rather to the containerized deployment approach.
The technical flaw stems from the use of a hardcoded secret for JWT token signing within the application's authentication mechanism. This represents a fundamental security weakness that violates established best practices for cryptographic key management and authentication system design. When a secret is hardcoded into the application source code or container image, it becomes accessible to anyone with access to the deployment artifacts, effectively eliminating the security benefits that JWT tokens are designed to provide. The hardcoded nature of this secret means that any attacker who can obtain the Docker image or its contents can extract the signing key and generate valid authentication tokens for the system.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant for organizations using Izanami in production environments. Attackers who successfully exploit this weakness can bypass authentication entirely and gain full access to the configuration service, potentially compromising all applications that rely on this shared configuration. This creates a cascading security risk where a single compromised instance can be used to attack other instances of Izanami within the same organization or even across different organizations if they share the same hardcoded secret. The vulnerability essentially transforms the authentication system from a protective mechanism into a backdoor that can be exploited by any attacker with access to the deployment environment.
This vulnerability aligns with CWE-312 (Cleartext Storage of Sensitive Information) and CWE-320 (Key Management Errors) categories, representing multiple security misconfigurations that undermine the integrity of the authentication system. From an attacker's perspective, this issue maps to several ATT&CK techniques including T1566 (Phishing) for initial access and T1078 (Valid Accounts) for privilege escalation once the authentication bypass is achieved. The security implications extend beyond immediate access, as compromised configuration services can lead to broader system compromise through configuration-based attacks, where malicious actors modify application settings to redirect traffic, alter business logic, or establish persistence mechanisms.
Organizations should immediately upgrade to Izanami version 1.11.0 or later to address this vulnerability, as this patch resolves the hardcoded secret issue by implementing proper key management practices. Additional mitigations include implementing network segmentation to restrict access to the configuration service, regularly auditing container images for hardcoded secrets, and deploying runtime monitoring solutions to detect unauthorized access attempts. Security teams should also conduct comprehensive reviews of all containerized applications to identify similar hardcoded secrets and implement proper secret management solutions such as HashiCorp Vault or Kubernetes secrets management. The incident highlights the critical importance of following security best practices in containerized deployments and demonstrates how seemingly minor configuration issues can create significant security risks in distributed systems.