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Grafana Escalation from admin to server admin when auth proxy is used

High severity GitHub Reviewed Published Sep 20, 2022 in grafana/grafana • Updated Nov 18, 2024

Package

gomod github.com/grafana/grafana (Go)

Affected versions

>= 9.1.0, < 9.1.6
>= 9.0.0, < 9.0.9
< 8.5.13

Patched versions

9.1.6
9.0.9
8.5.13

Description

Today we are releasing Grafana 9.1.6, 9.0.9, 8.5.13. This patch release includes a Moderate severity security fix for CVE-2022-35957 that affects Grafana instances which are using Grafana Auth Proxy.

Release 9.1.6, latest patch, also containing security fix:

Release 9.0.9, only containing security fix:

Release 8.5.13, only containing security fix:

Appropriate patches have been applied to Grafana Cloud and as always, we closely coordinated with all cloud providers licensed to offer Grafana Pro. They have received early notification under embargo and confirmed that their offerings are secure at the time of this announcement. This is applicable to Amazon Managed Grafana and Azure's Grafana as a service offering.

Privilege escalation (CVE-2022-35957)

Summary

On August 9 an internal security review identified a vulnerability in the Grafana which allows an escalation from Admin privileges to Server Admin when Auth proxy authentication is used.

Auth proxy allows to authenticate a user by only providing the username (or email) in a X-WEBAUTH-USER HTTP header: the trust assumption is that a front proxy will take care of authentication and that Grafana server is publicly reachable only with this front proxy.

Datasource proxy breaks this assumption:

  • it is possible to configure a fake datasource pointing to a localhost Grafana install with a X-WEBAUTH-USER HTTP header containing admin username.
  • This fake datasource can be called publicly via this proxying feature.

The CVSS score for this vulnerability is 6.6 Moderate (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

Impacted versions

All Grafana installations where the Auth Proxy is used.

Solutions and mitigations

To fully address CVE-2022-35957 please upgrade your Grafana instances. They are only required if you are using Auth proxy. If you can’t upgrade, as an alternative, you can deactivate the auth proxy.

Appropriate patches have been applied to Grafana Cloud.

Timeline

Here is a timeline starting from when we originally learned of the issue.

  • 2022-08-09: Vulnerability is reported as a result of an Internal security audit.
  • 2022-08-09: Release timeline determined: 2022-09-06 for private customer release, 2022-09-20 for public release.
  • 2022-08-09: Confirmed that Grafana Cloud is not impacted.
  • 2022-09-06: Private release.
  • 2022-09-20: Public release.

Reporting security issues

If you think you have found a security vulnerability, please send a report to [email protected]. This address can be used for all of Grafana Labs' open source and commercial products (including, but not limited to Grafana, Grafana Cloud, Grafana Enterprise, and grafana.com). We can accept only vulnerability reports at this address. We would prefer that you encrypt your message to us by using our PGP key. The key fingerprint is

F988 7BEA 027A 049F AE8E 5CAA D125 8932 BE24 C5CA

The key is available from keyserver.ubuntu.com.

Security announcements

We maintain a security category on our blog, where we will always post a summary, remediation, and mitigation details for any patch containing security fixes.

You can also subscribe to our RSS feed.

References

@vtorosyan vtorosyan published to grafana/grafana Sep 20, 2022
Published by the National Vulnerability Database Sep 20, 2022
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database May 14, 2024
Reviewed May 14, 2024
Last updated Nov 18, 2024

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v4 base metrics

Exploitability Metrics
Attack Vector Network
Attack Complexity High
Attack Requirements None
Privileges Required High
User interaction None
Vulnerable System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality High
Integrity High
Availability High
Subsequent System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality None
Integrity None
Availability None

CVSS v4 base metrics

Exploitability Metrics
Attack Vector: This metric reflects the context by which vulnerability exploitation is possible. This metric value (and consequently the resulting severity) will be larger the more remote (logically, and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerable system. The assumption is that the number of potential attackers for a vulnerability that could be exploited from across a network is larger than the number of potential attackers that could exploit a vulnerability requiring physical access to a device, and therefore warrants a greater severity.
Attack Complexity: This metric captures measurable actions that must be taken by the attacker to actively evade or circumvent existing built-in security-enhancing conditions in order to obtain a working exploit. These are conditions whose primary purpose is to increase security and/or increase exploit engineering complexity. A vulnerability exploitable without a target-specific variable has a lower complexity than a vulnerability that would require non-trivial customization. This metric is meant to capture security mechanisms utilized by the vulnerable system.
Attack Requirements: This metric captures the prerequisite deployment and execution conditions or variables of the vulnerable system that enable the attack. These differ from security-enhancing techniques/technologies (ref Attack Complexity) as the primary purpose of these conditions is not to explicitly mitigate attacks, but rather, emerge naturally as a consequence of the deployment and execution of the vulnerable system.
Privileges Required: This metric describes the level of privileges an attacker must possess prior to successfully exploiting the vulnerability. The method by which the attacker obtains privileged credentials prior to the attack (e.g., free trial accounts), is outside the scope of this metric. Generally, self-service provisioned accounts do not constitute a privilege requirement if the attacker can grant themselves privileges as part of the attack.
User interaction: This metric captures the requirement for a human user, other than the attacker, to participate in the successful compromise of the vulnerable system. This metric determines whether the vulnerability can be exploited solely at the will of the attacker, or whether a separate user (or user-initiated process) must participate in some manner.
Vulnerable System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality: This metric measures the impact to the confidentiality of the information managed by the VULNERABLE SYSTEM due to a successfully exploited vulnerability. Confidentiality refers to limiting information access and disclosure to only authorized users, as well as preventing access by, or disclosure to, unauthorized ones.
Integrity: This metric measures the impact to integrity of a successfully exploited vulnerability. Integrity refers to the trustworthiness and veracity of information. Integrity of the VULNERABLE SYSTEM is impacted when an attacker makes unauthorized modification of system data. Integrity is also impacted when a system user can repudiate critical actions taken in the context of the system (e.g. due to insufficient logging).
Availability: This metric measures the impact to the availability of the VULNERABLE SYSTEM resulting from a successfully exploited vulnerability. While the Confidentiality and Integrity impact metrics apply to the loss of confidentiality or integrity of data (e.g., information, files) used by the system, this metric refers to the loss of availability of the impacted system itself, such as a networked service (e.g., web, database, email). Since availability refers to the accessibility of information resources, attacks that consume network bandwidth, processor cycles, or disk space all impact the availability of a system.
Subsequent System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality: This metric measures the impact to the confidentiality of the information managed by the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM due to a successfully exploited vulnerability. Confidentiality refers to limiting information access and disclosure to only authorized users, as well as preventing access by, or disclosure to, unauthorized ones.
Integrity: This metric measures the impact to integrity of a successfully exploited vulnerability. Integrity refers to the trustworthiness and veracity of information. Integrity of the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM is impacted when an attacker makes unauthorized modification of system data. Integrity is also impacted when a system user can repudiate critical actions taken in the context of the system (e.g. due to insufficient logging).
Availability: This metric measures the impact to the availability of the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM resulting from a successfully exploited vulnerability. While the Confidentiality and Integrity impact metrics apply to the loss of confidentiality or integrity of data (e.g., information, files) used by the system, this metric refers to the loss of availability of the impacted system itself, such as a networked service (e.g., web, database, email). Since availability refers to the accessibility of information resources, attacks that consume network bandwidth, processor cycles, or disk space all impact the availability of a system.
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

EPSS score

0.276%
(69th percentile)

Weaknesses

CVE ID

CVE-2022-35957

GHSA ID

GHSA-ff5c-938w-8c9q

Source code

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