CVE-2022-34668: Nvflare NVFLARE Unsafe Deserialization Due To Vulnerability

CRITICAL
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-6qv6-q77g-7qm6
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CVSS 9.8
CWE-502
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2022-34668 is a CRITICAL (CVSS 9.8) nvflare unsafe deserialization due to vulnerability (CWE-502: Deserialization of Untrusted Data) affecting Nvflare libraries in the PyPI ecosystem. The issue involves nvflare unsafe deserialization due to pickle. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 2.1.4.

CVE-2022-34668 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2022-34668
GHSA Identifier GHSA-6qv6-q77g-7qm6
Severity CRITICAL
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 9.8
CWE Classification CWE-502: Deserialization of Untrusted Data
Affected Product Nvflare
Package Ecosystem PyPI
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 9.8

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

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

How to Fix CVE-2022-34668

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

nvflare fixed: 2.1.4 
pip install nvflare>=2.1.4
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

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

pip show nvflare

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Python environment is affected by CVE-2022-34668, inspect your installed packages using pip:

pip show nvflare

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Nvflare in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 2.1.4), your application is affected.

Note: The pip show nvflare command checks currently installed packages in your active Python environment.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-502: Deserialization of Untrusted Data, where the product deserializes untrusted data without sufficiently ensuring that the resulting data will be valid. In Nvflare, 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

### Impact NVFLARE contains a vulnerability where deserialization of Untrusted Data due to Pickle usage may allow an unprivileged network attacker to cause Remote Code Execution, Denial Of Service, and Impact to both Confidentiality and Integrity. All versions before 2.1.4 are affected. CVSS Score = 9.8 [AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln-metrics/cvss/v3-calculator?vector=AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) ### Patches The patch is included in nvflare==2.1.4 This new version uses MessagePack instead of Pickle to do serialization and deserialization. Some object serializations supported by Pickle are not supported by MessagePack. We have provided out of box support for some built-in NVFLARE objects. For object serializations unsupported by MessagePack, the user will need to convert the objects to numpy or bytes before sending over to remote machines. The list of supported object types are listed in https://github.com/NVIDIA/NVFlare/blob/2.1/nvflare/fuel/utils/fobs/README.rst ### Workarounds No workarounds available. ### Additional information Issue Found by: Oliver Sellwood (Nintorac) and Elias Hohl

CVE-2022-34668 Affected Nvflare Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
2.1.4
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
nvflare
pypi/nvflare
PyPI
< 2.1.4
2.1.4

References

GitHub Advisory / Wiki ADVISORY
https://github.com/NVIDIA/NVFlare/security/advisories/GHSA-6qv6-q77g-7qm6
NVD — CVE-2022-34668 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-34668
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/NVIDIA/NVFlare/commit/6cde16f3f4711583ae4d896dfcc125d25c7d5b0d
Nvflare Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/NVIDIA/NVFlare
Nvflare Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/nvflare/PYSEC-2022-257.yaml
Nvflare Security Information SECURITY
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/171483/NVFLARE-Unsafe-Deserialization.html

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2022-34668?
CVE-2022-34668 is a security vulnerability in Nvflare involving NVFLARE unsafe deserialization due to Pickle under CWE-502: Deserialization of Untrusted Data.
Which Nvflare versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 2.1.4 across affected packages: nvflare.
What version fixes CVE-2022-34668?
Upgrading to 2.1.4 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is nvflare affected?
Yes, nvflare is affected in releases prior to 2.1.4. Upgrade your dependency to 2.1.4 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2022-34668?
CVE-2022-34668 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (CRITICAL) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2022-34668?
CVE-2022-34668 is classified under CWE-502: Deserialization of Untrusted Data (The product deserializes untrusted data without sufficiently ensuring that the resulting data will be valid.).
How can I check PyPI dependencies for CVE-2022-34668?
Run the dependency tree command: 'pip show nvflare'. 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-6qv6-q77g-7qm6",
  "modified" : "2022-09-08T14:26:34Z",
  "published" : "2022-08-31T22:29:27Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2022-34668" ],
  "summary" : "NVFLARE unsafe deserialization due to Pickle",
  "details" : "### Impact\nNVFLARE contains a vulnerability where deserialization of Untrusted Data due to Pickle usage may allow an unprivileged network attacker to cause Remote Code Execution, Denial Of Service, and Impact to both Confidentiality and Integrity. \n\nAll versions before 2.1.4 are affected. \n\nCVSS Score = 9.8 \n \n[AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln-metrics/cvss/v3-calculator?vector=AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) \n\n\n### Patches\n \nThe patch is included in nvflare==2.1.4 \nThis new version uses MessagePack instead of Pickle to do serialization and deserialization.  \n\nSome object serializations supported by Pickle are not supported by MessagePack. We have provided out of box support for some built-in NVFLARE objects. For object serializations unsupported by MessagePack, the user will need to convert the objects to numpy or bytes before sending over to remote machines.  The list of supported object types are listed in https://github.com/NVIDIA/NVFlare/blob/2.1/nvflare/fuel/utils/fobs/README.rst \n\n \n### Workarounds\n\nNo workarounds available. \n \n### Additional information \nIssue Found by: Oliver Sellwood (Nintorac) and Elias Hohl\n\n",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "PyPI",
      "name" : "nvflare"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "2.1.4"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/NVIDIA/NVFlare/security/advisories/GHSA-6qv6-q77g-7qm6"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-34668"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/NVIDIA/NVFlare/commit/6cde16f3f4711583ae4d896dfcc125d25c7d5b0d"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/NVIDIA/NVFlare"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/nvflare/PYSEC-2022-257.yaml"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/171483/NVFLARE-Unsafe-Deserialization.html"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-502" ],
    "severity" : "CRITICAL",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2022-08-31T22:29:27Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2022-08-29T03:15:00Z"
  }
}