CVE-2024-41177 in Zeppelin
Summary
by MITRE • 08/03/2025
Incomplete Blacklist to Cross-Site Scripting vulnerability in Apache Zeppelin.
This issue affects Apache Zeppelin: before 0.12.0.
Users are recommended to upgrade to version 0.12.0, which fixes the issue.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/05/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-41177 represents a critical security flaw in Apache Zeppelin, a popular web-based notebook application for data analysis and visualization. This issue manifests as an incomplete blacklist approach that leaves the system susceptible to cross-site scripting attacks, potentially allowing malicious actors to execute arbitrary scripts in the context of a victim's browser. The vulnerability specifically impacts versions of Apache Zeppelin prior to 0120, making all earlier releases vulnerable to exploitation. Apache Zeppelin serves as a central platform for collaborative data analysis, making this vulnerability particularly concerning for organizations relying on its notebook functionality for sensitive data processing and visualization tasks.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation mechanisms within Apache Zeppelin's processing pipeline. When users submit content through the web interface, the application should properly sanitize and validate all input to prevent malicious script execution. However, the incomplete blacklist implementation fails to account for all possible XSS attack vectors, allowing attackers to bypass security controls through carefully crafted input that contains malicious JavaScript code. This flaw falls under the CWE-79 category of Cross-Site Scripting, specifically representing a weakness in input validation where the system fails to properly filter or escape potentially dangerous characters and script tags. The incomplete blacklist approach creates a false sense of security, as attackers can often find ways to circumvent the protection mechanisms through encoding techniques, alternative script syntax, or by exploiting edge cases in the validation logic.
The operational impact of CVE-2024-41177 extends beyond simple script execution, potentially enabling attackers to access sensitive data, hijack user sessions, perform unauthorized actions on behalf of victims, and even establish persistent backdoors within the Zeppelin environment. Organizations using affected versions of Apache Zeppelin face significant risks when users submit notebooks containing malicious code, as this vulnerability can be exploited through various attack vectors including notebook sharing, collaborative editing features, and automated data ingestion processes. The vulnerability particularly affects collaborative environments where multiple users interact with shared notebooks, as a single malicious input can compromise all users within the same session or workspace. Additionally, the impact is amplified in enterprise settings where Zeppelin might be integrated with other systems, potentially allowing attackers to escalate privileges and gain access to underlying data sources or other connected applications.
Organizations should immediately implement the recommended upgrade to Apache Zeppelin version 0120 to remediate this vulnerability, as this release includes comprehensive fixes addressing the incomplete blacklist implementation. The upgrade process should be carefully planned to minimize disruption to ongoing data analysis workflows while ensuring all users have access to the patched version. Security teams should also conduct thorough vulnerability assessments of their existing Zeppelin deployments to identify any potential exploitation attempts or indicators of compromise that may have occurred before the patch was applied. Additional mitigations may include implementing web application firewalls, deploying content security policies, and establishing stricter input validation controls at the network level. Organizations should also review their incident response procedures to ensure they can effectively detect and respond to potential exploitation attempts, as the vulnerability could be leveraged to establish persistent access within their data analysis environments. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566 related to social engineering and T1059 for command and script injection, highlighting the multi-faceted nature of the threat landscape surrounding web-based data analysis platforms.