An incorrect authorization vulnerability was identified in GitHub Enterprise Server that allowed an attacker to merge their own pull request into a repository without having push access by exploiting an authorization bypass in the enable_auto_merge mutation for pull requests. This issue only affected repositories that allow forking as the attack relies on opening a pull request from an attacker-controlled fork into the target repository. Exploitation was only possible in specific scenarios. It required a clean pull request status and only applied to branches without branch protection rules enabled. This vulnerability affected GitHub Enterprise Server versions prior to 3.19.2, 3.18.5, and 3.17.11, and was fixed in versions 3.19.2, 3.18.5, and 3.17.11. This vulnerability was reported via the GitHub Bug Bounty program.
Weakness
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.
Affected Software
| Name | Vendor | Start Version | End Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enterprise_server | Github | * | 3.17.11 (excluding) |
| Enterprise_server | Github | 3.18.0 (including) | 3.18.5 (excluding) |
| Enterprise_server | Github | 3.19.0 (including) | 3.19.2 (excluding) |
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) [REF-229] 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.