CVE-2023-6916 in Guardian
Summary
by MITRE • 04/10/2024
Audit records for OpenAPI requests may include sensitive information.
This could lead to unauthorized accesses and privilege escalation.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/20/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2023-6916 represents a critical security flaw in OpenAPI request auditing mechanisms that exposes sensitive data through audit logs. This issue falls under the category of insecure logging practices and information disclosure vulnerabilities, with potential implications for privilege escalation and unauthorized access. The flaw specifically affects how audit records are generated and maintained for OpenAPI requests, creating opportunities for attackers to gain unauthorized insights into system operations and potentially sensitive user data. According to CWE-532, this vulnerability maps directly to insecure logging practices where information disclosure occurs through log files, making it particularly dangerous in environments where audit trails are expected to provide security monitoring rather than expose system weaknesses.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from improper handling of sensitive data within audit logging systems that process OpenAPI requests. When OpenAPI operations are executed, the system generates audit records that should contain only necessary operational information for security monitoring and compliance purposes. However, the flaw allows sensitive data elements such as authentication tokens, user credentials, personal identifiable information, or system access details to be inadvertently included in these audit records. This occurs due to insufficient data sanitization or filtering mechanisms that should normally strip or mask sensitive information before logging. The vulnerability demonstrates a failure in the principle of least privilege for audit logging, where the system logs more information than required for legitimate security monitoring purposes. This weakness can be exploited through various attack vectors including log file access, log parsing, or indirect data extraction techniques that leverage the presence of sensitive information within the audit trails.
The operational impact of CVE-2023-6916 extends beyond simple information disclosure to potentially enable sophisticated attack scenarios involving privilege escalation and unauthorized system access. When audit records contain sensitive information, attackers who gain access to these logs can extract valuable credentials, session tokens, or other authentication data that could be used to impersonate legitimate users or gain elevated privileges within the system. This vulnerability directly aligns with ATT&CK technique T1562.006 for "Impair Defenses - Log Collection", where adversaries exploit weaknesses in logging mechanisms to either disable or manipulate audit trails for their benefit. The exposure of sensitive information through audit logs also violates fundamental security principles including confidentiality and integrity, potentially leading to compliance violations under regulations such as gdpr, hipaa, or pci dss. Organizations may face significant operational risks including data breaches, regulatory penalties, and loss of customer trust when audit systems are compromised through this vulnerability.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2023-6916 must address both immediate remediation and long-term architectural improvements to audit logging systems. The primary recommendation involves implementing comprehensive data sanitization and filtering mechanisms that automatically remove or mask sensitive information from audit records before they are stored. This approach aligns with security best practices outlined in the owasp logging cheat sheet and should include regular review of log content to ensure no sensitive data is being captured inadvertently. Organizations should also implement role-based access controls on audit log systems to limit who can view these records, ensuring that only authorized security personnel have access to potentially sensitive information. Additionally, the implementation of automated log monitoring and alerting systems can help detect unusual access patterns or attempts to extract information from audit logs. According to the nist cybersecurity framework, this vulnerability requires remediation through the detection and response functions, emphasizing the importance of continuous monitoring and incident response capabilities. Regular security testing including penetration testing and vulnerability assessments should be conducted to verify that audit logging systems properly sanitize sensitive data and that the implemented mitigations remain effective against evolving attack techniques.