An incorrect authorization vulnerability exists in multiple WSO2 products due to a business logic flaw in the account recovery-related SOAP admin service. A malicious actor can exploit this vulnerability to reset the password of any user account, leading to a complete account takeover, including accounts with elevated privileges.
This vulnerability is exploitable only through the account recovery SOAP admin services exposed via the /services context path in affected products. The impact may be reduced if access to these endpoints has been restricted based on the Security Guidelines for Production Deployment by disabling exposure to untrusted networks.
The product performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action, but it does not correctly perform the check. This allows attackers to bypass intended access restrictions.
Assuming a user with a given identity, authorization is the process of determining whether that user can access a given resource, based on the user’s privileges and any permissions or other access-control specifications that apply to the resource. When access control checks are incorrectly applied, users are able to access data or perform actions that they should not be allowed to perform. This can lead to a wide range of problems, including information exposures, denial of service, and arbitrary code execution.