CVE-2024-46897 in Exment
Summary
by MITRE • 10/18/2024
Incorrect permission assignment for critical resource issue exists in Exment v6.1.4 and earlier and Exment v5.0.11 and earlier. A logged-in user with the permission of table management may obtain and/or alter the information of the unauthorized table.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/18/2024
This vulnerability represents a critical access control flaw in the Exment application platform that affects versions up to v6.1.4 and v5.0.11. The issue stems from improper permission assignment mechanisms that allow authenticated users with table management privileges to bypass normal access controls and manipulate tables they should not have authorization to access. This misconfiguration creates a privilege escalation scenario where users can obtain unauthorized information or alter table data, fundamentally compromising the application's data integrity and confidentiality controls.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves a breakdown in the permission validation system that should enforce access boundaries between different user roles and table resources. When a user with table management permissions attempts to access or modify tables, the application fails to properly verify whether the user should have access to the specific table in question. This flaw typically manifests as insufficient authorization checks during table operations, allowing malicious or compromised users to traverse access controls and gain unauthorized access to sensitive data repositories. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-285, which addresses improper authorization in software applications, and specifically represents a case where inadequate permission validation leads to unauthorized resource access.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data exposure to encompass potential data manipulation and system compromise. An attacker with table management permissions could exploit this flaw to access confidential information stored in tables they should not be authorized to view, potentially including sensitive business data, personal information, or system configuration details. Additionally, the ability to alter unauthorized tables creates opportunities for data corruption, information tampering, and potential system disruption. This vulnerability directly impacts the principle of least privilege and can enable more sophisticated attacks where adversaries use the compromised table access to pivot to other system components or escalate their privileges further within the application environment.
Organizations using affected Exment versions should immediately implement mitigations including updating to patched versions that properly enforce table access controls and implement additional monitoring for unauthorized table access attempts. Security teams should conduct comprehensive audits of existing table permissions and user access rights to identify any potential exploitation that may have occurred. The remediation process should involve strengthening the permission validation mechanisms and implementing proper access control checks that verify user authorization against each table resource before allowing any operations. This vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of maintaining robust access control systems and highlights the need for regular security assessments to identify and remediate authorization flaws that could compromise entire application ecosystems. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this issue under privilege escalation techniques where attackers leverage existing permissions to gain access to unauthorized resources, making it a significant concern for organizations relying on Exment for business-critical data management operations.