CVE-2024-23446 in Kibana
Summary
by MITRE • 02/07/2024
An issue was discovered by Elastic, whereby the Detection Engine Search API does not respect Document-level security (DLS) or Field-level security (FLS) when querying the .alerts-security.alerts-{space_id} indices. Users who are authorized to call this API may obtain unauthorized access to documents if their roles are configured with DLS or FLS against the aforementioned index.
Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/07/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-23446 represents a critical authorization bypass flaw within Elastic's Detection Engine Search API that directly undermines the security controls designed to protect sensitive data. This issue affects the .alerts-security.alerts-{space_id} indices where document-level security and field-level security configurations are supposed to enforce access restrictions. The flaw occurs when the API fails to properly validate user permissions against these security policies, allowing unauthorized data access that should be restricted by the configured security controls.
This technical vulnerability stems from a failure in the API's authorization validation mechanism where the system does not properly enforce the document-level security (DLS) and field-level security (FLS) policies that are fundamental to Elasticsearch's access control framework. The detection engine search API operates without properly checking whether the requesting user's role configuration includes appropriate DLS or FLS restrictions against the target indices. This creates a situation where users with elevated privileges to access the API can bypass the intended security boundaries and retrieve information that should be restricted based on their role-based access control policies.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe as it enables potential data leakage and unauthorized information disclosure across multiple security domains. An attacker or malicious user with sufficient privileges to call the Detection Engine Search API could access sensitive security alerts, threat intelligence data, and other protected information that should only be visible to users with appropriate clearance levels. This breach of security isolation directly violates the principle of least privilege and can lead to compromise of security monitoring capabilities, potentially exposing the organization to further attacks or data breaches.
From a cybersecurity perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-284 (Improper Access Control) and represents a significant deviation from the expected behavior of field-level and document-level security mechanisms. The flaw can be categorized under ATT&CK technique T1078 (Valid Accounts) and T1566 (Phishing) as it enables unauthorized access that could be leveraged to escalate privileges or gain access to sensitive data. Organizations using Elastic Stack with DLS/FLS configurations are particularly at risk as the vulnerability effectively nullifies the security controls that should protect their most sensitive security alert data.
The recommended mitigations include immediate patching of the Elastic Stack software to address the authorization bypass vulnerability, followed by a comprehensive review of all DLS and FLS configurations to ensure they are properly enforced. Organizations should also implement additional monitoring for API access patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts and consider implementing network-level controls to restrict access to the Detection Engine Search API. Regular security assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to verify that the security controls are functioning as intended and that no similar authorization bypass vulnerabilities exist in other components of the Elastic Stack ecosystem.