Vulnerabilities
Misconfiguration
Compliance
CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2019-3842

Improper Authorization

Published: Apr 09, 2019 | Modified: Nov 21, 2024
CVSS 3.x
7
HIGH
Source:
NVD
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS 2.x
4.4 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
RedHat/V2
RedHat/V3
4.5 MODERATE
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
Ubuntu
MEDIUM
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Additional information
NVDhttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-3842
CWEhttps://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/285.html

In systemd before v242-rc4, it was discovered that pam_systemd does not properly sanitize the environment before using the XDG_SEAT variable. It is possible for an attacker, in some particular configurations, to set a XDG_SEAT environment variable which allows for commands to be checked against polkit policies using the allow_active element rather than allow_any.

Weakness

The product does not perform or incorrectly performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action.

Affected Software

NameVendorStart VersionEnd Version
SystemdSystemd_project*241 (including)
SystemdSystemd_project242-rc1 (including)242-rc1 (including)
SystemdSystemd_project242-rc2 (including)242-rc2 (including)
SystemdSystemd_project242-rc3 (including)242-rc3 (including)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8RedHatsystemd-0:239-45.el8*
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.2 Extended Update SupportRedHatsystemd-0:239-31.el8_2.7*
SystemdUbuntubionic*
SystemdUbuntucosmic*
SystemdUbuntudevel*
SystemdUbuntuesm-infra-legacy/trusty*
SystemdUbuntuesm-infra-legacy/xenial*
SystemdUbuntuesm-infra/bionic*
SystemdUbuntuesm-infra/xenial*
SystemdUbuntutrusty*
SystemdUbuntutrusty/esm*
SystemdUbuntuupstream*
SystemdUbuntuxenial*

Potential Mitigations

  • Divide the product into anonymous, normal, privileged, and administrative areas. Reduce the attack surface by carefully mapping roles with data and functionality. Use role-based access control (RBAC) to enforce the roles at the appropriate boundaries.
  • Note that this approach may not protect against horizontal authorization, i.e., it will not protect a user from attacking others with the same role.
  • Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
  • For example, consider using authorization frameworks such as the JAAS Authorization Framework [REF-233] and the OWASP ESAPI Access Control feature [REF-45].
  • For web applications, make sure that the access control mechanism is enforced correctly at the server side on every page. Users should not be able to access any unauthorized functionality or information by simply requesting direct access to that page.
  • One way to do this is to ensure that all pages containing sensitive information are not cached, and that all such pages restrict access to requests that are accompanied by an active and authenticated session token associated with a user who has the required permissions to access that page.

References

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