CVE-2024-45693 in CloudStack
Summary
by MITRE • 10/16/2024
Users logged into the Apache CloudStack's web interface can be tricked to submit malicious CSRF requests due to missing validation of the origin of the requests. This can allow an attacker to gain privileges and access to resources of the authenticated users and may lead to account takeover, disruption, exposure of sensitive data and compromise integrity of the resources owned by the user account that are managed by the platform.
This issue affects Apache CloudStack from 4.15.1.0 through 4.18.2.3 and 4.19.0.0 through 4.19.1.1
Users are recommended to upgrade to Apache CloudStack 4.18.2.4 or 4.19.1.2, or later, which addresses this issue.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/05/2025
The vulnerability described in CVE-2024-45693 represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw within Apache CloudStack's web interface that directly compromises user authentication and authorization mechanisms. This issue stems from insufficient validation of request origins, allowing attackers to exploit the trust relationship between authenticated users and the web application. The flaw specifically affects versions from 4.15.1.0 through 4.18.2.3 and 4.19.0.0 through 4.19.1.1, creating a significant attack surface for malicious actors targeting cloud infrastructure management platforms. The vulnerability's impact extends beyond simple data exposure to encompass complete account takeover capabilities, making it particularly dangerous for cloud environments where administrative privileges are at stake.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability occurs when authenticated users interact with the Apache CloudStack web interface, where the application fails to properly validate the referer header or origin field of incoming HTTP requests. This validation gap allows attackers to craft malicious web pages or exploit existing user sessions to submit unauthorized requests on behalf of authenticated users. The flaw operates at the application layer and specifically targets the web-based management interface, where users perform administrative tasks such as resource provisioning, configuration changes, and access control modifications. According to CWE classification, this vulnerability maps to CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery weaknesses in web applications, and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566.001 for Initial Access through Spearphishing Attachments and T1078.004 for Valid Accounts through Cloud Service Dashboard Access.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and multifaceted, potentially enabling attackers to execute unauthorized administrative actions within the CloudStack environment. Successful exploitation could result in complete compromise of user accounts, leading to unauthorized access to virtual machines, storage resources, network configurations, and other cloud-managed assets. The vulnerability's potential for privilege escalation means that attackers could gain elevated access rights beyond what they initially possessed, potentially allowing them to manipulate or delete critical infrastructure components. Additionally, the flaw could facilitate data exfiltration, service disruption, and integrity compromise of resources managed through the platform, creating cascading effects throughout the cloud infrastructure that organizations rely upon for their operations.
Organizations utilizing affected Apache CloudStack versions must implement immediate mitigations while planning for the mandatory upgrade to versions 4.18.2.4 or 4.19.1.2 or later. The recommended solution addresses the core CSRF validation issue by implementing proper origin checking mechanisms that verify request legitimacy before processing user actions. Security teams should also consider implementing additional protective measures such as implementing Content Security Policy headers, enabling CSRF tokens for all state-changing operations, and deploying web application firewalls to monitor and filter suspicious requests. Organizations should conduct comprehensive security assessments of their CloudStack environments to identify any potential exploitation attempts and ensure that all administrative users are promptly upgraded to patched versions. The vulnerability's classification as a critical security flaw according to industry standards necessitates immediate action to protect cloud infrastructure from potential compromise and maintain the integrity of cloud-managed resources.