Improper Privilege Management in Karaf

1) Improper Privilege Management

EUVDB-ID: #VU36684

Risk: High

CVSSv3.1: 7.7 [CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C]

CVE-ID: CVE-2018-11786

CWE-ID: CWE-269 - Improper Privilege Management

Exploit availability: No

Description

The vulnerability allows a remote authenticated user to execute arbitrary code.

In Apache Karaf prior to 4.2.0 release, if the sshd service in Karaf is left on so an administrator can manage the running instance, any user with rights to the Karaf console can pivot and read/write any file on the file system to which the Karaf process user has access. This can be locked down a bit by using chroot to change the root directory to protect files outside of the Karaf install directory; it can be further locked down by defining a security manager policy that limits file system access to those directories beneath the Karaf home that are necessary for the system to run. However, this still allows anyone with ssh access to the Karaf process to read and write a large number of files as the Karaf process user.

Mitigation

Install update from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Karaf: 4.0.0 - 4.1.7

External links

http://karaf.apache.org/security/cve-2018-11786.txt
http://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/KARAF-5427
http://lists.apache.org/thread.html/5b7ac762c6bbe77ac5d9389f093fc6dbf196c36d788e3d7629e6c1d9@%3Cdev.karaf.apache.org%3E

Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote authenticated user via the Internet.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.