CVE-2024-4226 in Octopus Server
Summary
by MITRE • 04/30/2024
It was identified that in certain versions of Octopus Server, that a user created with no permissions could view all users, user roles and permissions. This functionality was removed in versions of Octopus Server after the fixed versions listed.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/02/2025
The vulnerability described in CVE-2024-4226 represents a critical access control flaw within Octopus Server that undermines the fundamental security principle of least privilege. This issue affects specific versions of the Octopus deployment platform where user account management contains a logical error that allows users with no explicit permissions to gain unauthorized visibility into the entire user access control matrix. The flaw exists in the permission model implementation where the system fails to properly enforce access restrictions for users without assigned roles or permissions. This creates an information disclosure vulnerability that directly violates security best practices and could enable attackers to gather sensitive data about user accounts and their associated access levels.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from improper access control validation within the Octopus Server authentication and authorization framework. When a user account is created without explicit permissions, the system should enforce strict isolation between user accounts and prevent unauthorized access to other user information. However, the flaw allows such accounts to bypass normal access controls and view all users, their roles, and associated permissions within the system. This represents a violation of the principle of least privilege and demonstrates a failure in the system's permission enforcement mechanisms. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and can be exploited through normal user authentication flows without requiring elevated privileges or specialized attack tools.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant as it enables information disclosure that could facilitate further attacks within the Octopus Server environment. An attacker who can create a user account with no permissions could potentially gather intelligence about other users, their roles, and access patterns to plan more sophisticated attacks. This information could be used to identify high-value targets, understand system access controls, or develop targeted attacks against users with elevated privileges. The vulnerability also impacts the overall security posture by creating a backdoor that allows unauthorized access to user account information that should remain protected. This could lead to privilege escalation attempts, social engineering attacks, or other malicious activities that leverage the disclosed information.
Organizations using affected versions of Octopus Server should immediately implement mitigations to address this vulnerability. The primary recommendation is to upgrade to the fixed versions mentioned in the advisory, which contain the necessary patches to correct the access control flaw. System administrators should also conduct thorough reviews of existing user accounts to identify any accounts that may have been created with no permissions and ensure proper access control enforcement is in place. Additionally, monitoring should be implemented to detect unusual access patterns or attempts to query user information that could indicate exploitation attempts. The remediation process should include verifying that the permission model functions correctly and that users cannot access information beyond their assigned roles. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-284, which addresses improper access control, and could be leveraged as part of broader attack chains in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the privilege escalation and credential access domains.