CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2022-21706

Improper Access Control

Published: Feb 26, 2022 | Modified: Nov 21, 2024
CVSS 3.x
9.8
CRITICAL
Source:
NVD
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS 2.x
7.5 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
RedHat/V2
RedHat/V3
Ubuntu

Zulip is an open-source team collaboration tool with topic-based threading. Zulip Server version 2.0.0 and above are vulnerable to insufficient access control with multi-use invitations. A Zulip Server deployment which hosts multiple organizations is vulnerable to an attack where an invitation created in one organization (potentially as a role with elevated permissions) can be used to join any other organization. This bypasses any restrictions on required domains on users email addresses, may be used to gain access to organizations which are only accessible by invitation, and may be used to gain access with elevated privileges. This issue has been patched in release 4.10. There are no known workarounds for this issue. ### Patches Has the problem been patched? What versions should users upgrade to? ### Workarounds Is there a way for users to fix or remediate the vulnerability without upgrading? ### References Are there any links users can visit to find out more? ### For more information If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, you can discuss them on the developer community Zulip server, or email the Zulip security team.

Weakness

The product does not restrict or incorrectly restricts access to a resource from an unauthorized actor.

Affected Software

Name Vendor Start Version End Version
Zulip_server Zulip 2.0.0 (including) 4.10.0 (excluding)

Extended Description

Access control involves the use of several protection mechanisms such as:

When any mechanism is not applied or otherwise fails, attackers can compromise the security of the product by gaining privileges, reading sensitive information, executing commands, evading detection, etc. There are two distinct behaviors that can introduce access control weaknesses:

Potential Mitigations

  • Compartmentalize the system to have “safe” areas where trust boundaries can be unambiguously drawn. Do not allow sensitive data to go outside of the trust boundary and always be careful when interfacing with a compartment outside of the safe area.
  • Ensure that appropriate compartmentalization is built into the system design, and the compartmentalization allows for and reinforces privilege separation functionality. Architects and designers should rely on the principle of least privilege to decide the appropriate time to use privileges and the time to drop privileges.

References