CVE-2023-47114 in fides
Summary
by MITRE • 11/09/2023
Fides is an open-source privacy engineering platform for managing the fulfillment of data privacy requests in your runtime environment, and the enforcement of privacy regulations in your code. The Fides web application allows data subject users to request access to their personal data. If the request is approved by the data controller user operating the Fides web application, the data subject's personal data can then retrieved from connected systems and data stores before being bundled together as a data subject access request package for the data subject to download. Supported data formats for the package include json and csv, but the most commonly used format is a series of HTML files compressed in a ZIP file. Once downloaded and unzipped, the data subject user can browse the HTML files on their local machine. It was identified that there was no validation of input coming from e.g. the connected systems and data stores which is later reflected in the downloaded data. This can result in an HTML injection that can be abused e.g. for phishing attacks or malicious JavaScript code execution, but only in the context of the data subject's browser accessing a HTML page using the `file://` protocol. Exploitation is limited to rogue Admin UI users, malicious connected system / data store users, and the data subject user if tricked via social engineering into submitting malicious data themselves. This vulnerability has been patched in version 2.23.3.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/05/2023
The Fides platform represents a critical privacy engineering solution designed to manage data privacy requests and regulatory compliance within organizational environments. This open-source framework facilitates the handling of data subject access requests by connecting to various data stores and systems, enabling controllers to fulfill privacy obligations. The platform's architecture involves processing personal data from multiple sources and packaging it into downloadable formats for subject review. The vulnerability under discussion specifically targets the HTML generation process within the data package creation workflow, where input validation mechanisms fail to properly sanitize data originating from connected systems.
The technical flaw manifests as insufficient input validation and sanitization of data retrieved from external systems and data stores before HTML content generation. This weakness creates an HTML injection vulnerability that allows malicious actors to inject arbitrary HTML content into the generated files. When these HTML files are later accessed through a web browser using the file:// protocol, the injected content can execute within the user's browser context. The vulnerability stems from CWE-79 which specifically addresses HTML injection flaws in web applications. The attack vector requires that data be processed through the Fides platform's data package generation system, where unvalidated data from connected sources gets embedded into HTML documents without proper sanitization.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple code injection, as it enables sophisticated social engineering attacks and phishing campaigns. Attackers can craft malicious HTML content that appears legitimate to data subjects, potentially tricking them into revealing sensitive information or executing harmful code within their browser environment. The attack scope is limited to scenarios where the data subject accesses the generated HTML files locally through their browser, requiring the file:// protocol execution context. This constraint significantly reduces the attack surface compared to traditional web-based vulnerabilities but still represents a serious risk for organizations handling sensitive personal data. The vulnerability affects the integrity of the data subject access request process and could compromise user trust in the platform's security measures.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability involve implementing comprehensive input validation and sanitization mechanisms within the data package generation workflow. Organizations should ensure that all data retrieved from connected systems undergoes strict sanitization before being embedded into HTML content. The patch released in version 2.23.3 addresses this by implementing proper HTML escaping and validation routines. Security teams should also consider implementing additional monitoring for suspicious data patterns in connected systems and establish secure data handling protocols. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of input validation in data processing pipelines and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566 which covers social engineering attacks through malicious file delivery. Organizations should conduct regular security assessments of their data processing workflows and ensure that all components in the data pipeline maintain proper sanitization practices to prevent similar injection vulnerabilities.