CVE-2023-35183 in Access Rights Manager
Summary
by MITRE • 10/25/2023
The SolarWinds Access Rights Manager was susceptible to Privilege Escalation Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows authenticated users to abuse local resources to Privilege Escalation.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/25/2023
The SolarWinds Access Rights Manager vulnerability identified as CVE-2023-35183 represents a critical privilege escalation flaw that undermines the security posture of organizations relying on this identity and access management solution. This vulnerability specifically affects the Access Rights Manager component within the SolarWinds platform, which is designed to control and manage user permissions across enterprise environments. The flaw exists in how the system handles authentication and authorization processes, creating an avenue for authenticated users to exploit local resources and elevate their privileges beyond their intended access levels. Such vulnerabilities are particularly dangerous because they leverage the trust model inherent in legitimate user sessions, making detection and mitigation more challenging. The vulnerability demonstrates a fundamental weakness in the principle of least privilege enforcement, where users who should only have standard access can potentially gain administrative or elevated permissions within the system.
The technical implementation of this privilege escalation vulnerability stems from inadequate access control mechanisms within the SolarWinds Access Rights Manager. Attackers who have already established legitimate user credentials can leverage this flaw to manipulate local system resources and elevate their privileges through various means including but not limited to exploiting weak permission checks, improper input validation, or flawed privilege boundary enforcement. The vulnerability likely resides in the application's internal logic for handling user requests and permission validation, where authenticated sessions do not properly enforce the boundaries between different privilege levels. This weakness aligns with CWE-276, which addresses improper privilege management, and represents a clear violation of the security principle that authenticated users should only be able to perform actions within their designated permission scope. The exploitation process typically involves crafting specific requests or manipulating system calls that bypass normal access controls, allowing the attacker to gain higher-level privileges without additional authentication.
The operational impact of CVE-2023-35183 extends far beyond the immediate technical implications, potentially enabling attackers to compromise entire enterprise networks and steal sensitive data. Organizations using SolarWinds Access Rights Manager may face significant security breaches where malicious actors can escalate privileges to administrative levels, gaining access to sensitive configuration data, user credentials, and system resources that should remain protected. This vulnerability creates a persistent threat vector that can be exploited repeatedly, as long as the attacker maintains valid user credentials within the system. The impact is particularly severe in environments where the Access Rights Manager serves as a central component for identity and access management, as it could enable attackers to move laterally across the network and access critical systems. From an attacker's perspective, this vulnerability provides a low-effort path to achieve high-impact objectives, making it an attractive target in supply chain attacks or broader enterprise compromise attempts. The potential for data exfiltration, system disruption, and unauthorized access to sensitive information makes this vulnerability particularly concerning for organizations handling regulated data or critical infrastructure.
Organizations must implement immediate remediation measures to address this privilege escalation vulnerability in their SolarWinds Access Rights Manager deployments. The primary mitigation strategy involves applying the official security patches provided by SolarWinds, which typically include fixes for the underlying access control implementation and privilege boundary enforcement mechanisms. Network segmentation and monitoring should be enhanced to detect anomalous privilege escalation attempts, with particular attention to unusual authentication patterns or access requests that deviate from normal user behavior. Implementing multi-factor authentication and just-in-time access provisioning can significantly reduce the attack surface and limit the impact of credential compromise. Regular security audits and access reviews should be conducted to identify and remediate any unauthorized privilege assignments. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing security monitoring solutions that can detect and alert on privilege escalation activities, particularly those that occur within the Access Rights Manager component. The mitigation approach should align with the ATT&CK framework's privilege escalation techniques, specifically targeting methods that involve abuse of local resources and improper privilege management. Organizations should also conduct thorough vulnerability assessments to identify any additional weaknesses in their identity and access management infrastructure that could be exploited in conjunction with this vulnerability.