CVE-2024-51448

IBM Robotic Process Automation 21.0.0 through 21.0.7.17 and 23.0.0 through 23.0.18 could allow a local user to escalate their privileges. All files in the install inherit the file permissions of the parent directory and therefore a non-privileged user can substitute any executable for the nssm.exe service. A subsequent service or server restart will then run that binary with administrator privilege.

Weakness

A product defines a set of insecure permissions that are inherited by objects that are created by the program.

Affected Software

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

• https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7177586