CVE-2019-7615: Elastic apm Improper Certificate Validation Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-35j2-p8fh-x966
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CVSS 7.4
CWE-295
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2019-7615 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.4) improper certificate validation vulnerability (CWE-295: Improper Certificate Validation) affecting Elastic apm libraries in the RubyGems ecosystem. The issue involves elastic apm agent for ruby vulnerable to improper certificate validation. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 2.9.0.

CVE-2019-7615 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2019-7615
GHSA Identifier GHSA-35j2-p8fh-x966
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.4
CWE Classification CWE-295: Improper Certificate Validation
Affected Product Elastic apm
Package Ecosystem RubyGems
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 7.4

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity High (AC:H)
Privileges Required None (PR:N)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality High (C:H)
Integrity High (I:H)
Availability None (A:N)

How to Fix CVE-2019-7615

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Elastic apm dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

elastic-apm fixed: 2.9.0 
Upgrade elastic-apm to 2.9.0
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

inspect dependencies for elastic-apm

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your application is affected by CVE-2019-7615, inspect your project dependencies for Elastic apm:

inspect dependencies for elastic-apm

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Elastic apm in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 2.9.0), your application is affected.

Note: Verify declared build manifests and deployed runtime container environments.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-295: Improper Certificate Validation, where the product does not validate, or incorrectly validates, a certificate. In Elastic apm, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

A TLS certificate validation flaw was found in Elastic APM agent for Ruby versions before 2.9.0. When specifying a trusted server CA certificate via the `server_ca_cert` setting, the Ruby agent would not properly verify the certificate returned by the APM server. This could result in a man in the middle style attack against the Ruby agent.

CVE-2019-7615 Affected Elastic apm Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
2.9.0
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
elastic-apm
gem/elastic-apm
RubyGems
< 2.9.0
2.9.0

References

NVD — CVE-2019-7615 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-7615
Elastic apm Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/elastic/apm-agent-ruby/pull/449
Elastic apm Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/elastic/apm-agent-ruby
Elastic apm Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/rubysec/ruby-advisory-db/blob/master/gems/elastic-apm/CVE-2019-7615.yml
Elastic apm Security Information SECURITY
https://www.elastic.co/community/security

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2019-7615?
CVE-2019-7615 is a security vulnerability in Elastic apm involving Elastic APM agent for Ruby vulnerable to Improper Certificate Validation under CWE-295: Improper Certificate Validation.
Which Elastic apm versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 2.9.0 across affected packages: elastic-apm.
What version fixes CVE-2019-7615?
Upgrading to 2.9.0 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is elastic-apm affected?
Yes, elastic-apm is affected in releases prior to 2.9.0. Upgrade your dependency to 2.9.0 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2019-7615?
CVE-2019-7615 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.4 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2019-7615?
CVE-2019-7615 is classified under CWE-295: Improper Certificate Validation (The product does not validate, or incorrectly validates, a certificate.).
How can I check RubyGems dependencies for CVE-2019-7615?
Run the dependency tree command: 'inspect dependencies for elastic-apm'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-35j2-p8fh-x966",
  "modified" : "2023-03-03T23:07:57Z",
  "published" : "2022-05-24T16:51:49Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2019-7615" ],
  "summary" : "Elastic APM agent for Ruby vulnerable to Improper Certificate Validation",
  "details" : "A TLS certificate validation flaw was found in Elastic APM agent for Ruby versions before 2.9.0. When specifying a trusted server CA certificate via the `server_ca_cert` setting, the Ruby agent would not properly verify the certificate returned by the APM server. This could result in a man in the middle style attack against the Ruby agent.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "RubyGems",
      "name" : "elastic-apm"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "2.9.0"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-7615"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/elastic/apm-agent-ruby/pull/449"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/elastic/apm-agent-ruby"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/rubysec/ruby-advisory-db/blob/master/gems/elastic-apm/CVE-2019-7615.yml"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://www.elastic.co/community/security"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-295" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2023-03-03T23:07:57Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2019-07-30T22:15:00Z"
  }
}