CVE-2024-38806 in UAA
Summary
by MITRE • 07/18/2024
Failure to properly synchronize user's permissions in UAA in Cloud Foundry Foundation v40.17.0 https://github.com/cloudfoundry/cf-deployment/releases/tag/v40.17.0 , potentially resulting in users retaining access rights they should not have. This can allow them to perform operations beyond their intended permissions.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/19/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-38806 represents a critical authorization flaw within the User Account and Authentication (UAA) component of the Cloud Foundry platform. This issue manifests as a failure to properly synchronize user permissions, creating a scenario where users may retain access rights that should have been revoked or restricted. The vulnerability specifically affects Cloud Foundry Foundation version 40.17.0, as documented in the official release notes, and stems from inadequate synchronization mechanisms within the UAA service that governs user authentication and authorization.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability lies in the improper handling of permission synchronization processes within the UAA subsystem. When user roles or access rights are modified or revoked, the system fails to consistently update all relevant permission states across the platform's distributed components. This creates a window of opportunity where users can potentially exploit the temporal gap between permission changes and their effective synchronization throughout the system. The flaw operates at the intersection of identity management and access control, where the UAA service is responsible for maintaining consistent authorization state across all platform components.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents a significant risk to Cloud Foundry environments as it allows for privilege escalation and unauthorized access to platform resources. An attacker who can exploit this flaw may gain access to operations and data that should be restricted to specific user roles or groups, potentially leading to data breaches, system compromise, or unauthorized resource consumption. The impact extends beyond simple unauthorized access, as the persistent nature of the permission synchronization failure means that compromised access rights can persist even after intended revocation, creating a long-term security risk. This vulnerability directly violates the principle of least privilege and can enable attackers to perform administrative operations they should not be authorized to execute.
The security implications of CVE-2024-38806 align with CWE-693, which addresses protection mechanism failures, and can be mapped to ATT&CK technique T1078.004 for valid accounts and T1484.001 for trusted relationships, as the vulnerability enables unauthorized access through legitimate user accounts. Organizations running Cloud Foundry deployments at version 40.17.0 should immediately implement mitigations including updating to the patched version, implementing additional monitoring for unauthorized permission changes, and conducting thorough access control reviews. The recommended remediation involves applying the official patch released by the Cloud Foundry Foundation and performing comprehensive permission audits to identify and revoke any unauthorized access that may have occurred during the vulnerability window. Additionally, implementing continuous monitoring of permission changes and establishing more robust synchronization mechanisms can help prevent similar issues in future deployments.