CVE-2024-35185 in Minder
Summary
by MITRE • 05/16/2024
Minder is a software supply chain security platform. Prior to version 0.0.49, the Minder REST ingester is vulnerable to a denial of service attack via an attacker-controlled REST endpoint that can crash the Minder server. The REST ingester allows users to interact with REST endpoints to fetch data for rule evaluation. When fetching data with the REST ingester, Minder sends a request to an endpoint and will use the data from the body of the response as the data to evaluate against a certain rule. If the response is sufficiently large, it can drain memory on the machine and crash the Minder server. The attacker can control the remote REST endpoints that Minder sends requests to, and they can configure the remote REST endpoints to return responses with large bodies. They would then instruct Minder to send a request to their configured endpoint that would return the large response which would crash the Minder server. Version 0.0.49 fixes this issue.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/16/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-35185 affects Minder, a software supply chain security platform designed to protect organizations from security risks in their software dependencies and development workflows. This vulnerability represents a critical denial of service weakness that specifically targets the REST ingester component of the platform, which serves as a crucial interface for fetching external data to evaluate against security rules and policies. The affected version range prior to 0.0.49 demonstrates a fundamental flaw in how the system handles external data retrieval operations, creating a pathway for malicious actors to disrupt service availability.
The technical flaw stems from insufficient input validation and memory management within the REST ingester functionality. When Minder's REST ingester processes requests to external endpoints, it blindly accepts and processes response data without implementing adequate size limits or memory allocation controls. This design oversight allows attackers to manipulate the system by configuring malicious endpoints that return oversized response bodies. The vulnerability operates through a straightforward yet effective attack pattern where an attacker controls the target REST endpoint configuration, crafts responses with excessive data payloads, and triggers the Minder server to process these oversized responses. The system's failure to implement proper resource limits means that memory exhaustion occurs rapidly, leading to complete service disruption and server crashes.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption to represent a significant threat to software supply chain security operations. Organizations relying on Minder for continuous security monitoring and compliance enforcement face potential exposure to attacks that could compromise their entire security infrastructure. The vulnerability affects the core functionality of the platform by preventing legitimate security evaluations from completing successfully, potentially leaving critical security gaps unaddressed while the system remains offline. This type of denial of service attack directly contradicts the fundamental purpose of a security platform, which should remain available and responsive during critical security operations.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-400, which addresses "Uncontrolled Resource Consumption," and demonstrates characteristics consistent with the ATT&CK technique T1499.004 for "Endpoint Denial of Service" within the context of software supply chain attacks. The attack vector exploits the legitimate functionality of the platform's REST interface, making it particularly dangerous as it can bypass traditional security controls that might not detect malicious use of authorized endpoints. Organizations implementing Minder should consider the broader implications of this vulnerability in their overall security posture, as it represents a potential entry point for attackers seeking to disrupt security operations. The fix implemented in version 0.0.49 addresses the root cause by introducing proper input validation and memory consumption limits for REST endpoint responses, ensuring that the system maintains stability even when processing potentially malicious data payloads.
Mitigation strategies should include immediate deployment of the patched version 0.0.49 or later, alongside monitoring for any unauthorized configuration changes to REST endpoint settings. Organizations should implement additional controls such as rate limiting for external endpoint requests and regular auditing of configured endpoints to detect potential malicious modifications. Security teams should also consider implementing network-level controls to restrict outbound requests from the Minder server to known good endpoints and establish automated alerting for unusual memory consumption patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability highlights the importance of resource management and input validation in security platforms, particularly those handling external data sources that could be manipulated by attackers to compromise system availability and integrity.