CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2021-45492

Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource

Published: Jul 14, 2022 | Modified: Aug 08, 2023
CVSS 3.x
7.8
HIGH
Source:
NVD
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS 2.x
RedHat/V2
RedHat/V3
Ubuntu

In Sage 300 ERP (formerly accpac) through 6.8.x, the installer configures the C:SageSage300Runtime directory to be the first entry in the system-wide PATH environment variable. However, this directory is writable by unprivileged users because the Sage installer fails to set explicit permissions and therefore inherits weak permissions from the C: folder. Because entries in the system-wide PATH variable are included in the search order for DLLs, an attacker could perform DLL search-order hijacking to escalate their privileges to SYSTEM. Furthermore, if the Global Search or Web Screens functionality is enabled, then privilege escalation is possible via the GlobalSearchService and Sage.CNA.WindowsService services, again via DLL search-order hijacking because unprivileged users would have modify permissions on the application directory. Note that while older versions of the software default to installing in %PROGRAMFILES(X86)% (which would allow the Sage folder to inherit strong permissions, making the installation not vulnerable), the official Sage 300 installation guides for those versions recommend installing in C:Sage, which would make the installation vulnerable.

Weakness

The product specifies permissions for a security-critical resource in a way that allows that resource to be read or modified by unintended actors.

Affected Software

Name Vendor Start Version End Version
Sage_300 Sage * 2022 (including)

Potential Mitigations

  • Run the code in a “jail” or similar sandbox environment that enforces strict boundaries between the process and the operating system. This may effectively restrict which files can be accessed in a particular directory or which commands can be executed by the software.
  • OS-level examples include the Unix chroot jail, AppArmor, and SELinux. In general, managed code may provide some protection. For example, java.io.FilePermission in the Java SecurityManager allows the software to specify restrictions on file operations.
  • This may not be a feasible solution, and it only limits the impact to the operating system; the rest of the application may still be subject to compromise.
  • Be careful to avoid CWE-243 and other weaknesses related to jails.

References