CVE-2023-48224: Ethyca fides Ethyca Fides Cryptographically Weak Generation Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-82vr-5769-6358
CVSS 8.2
CWE-338
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2023-48224 is a HIGH (CVSS 8.2) ethyca fides cryptographically weak generation vulnerability (CWE-338: Use of Cryptographically Weak Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG)) affecting Ethyca fides libraries in the PyPI ecosystem. The issue involves ethyca fides cryptographically weak generation of one-time codes for identity verification. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 2.24.0.

CVE-2023-48224 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2023-48224
GHSA Identifier GHSA-82vr-5769-6358
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 8.2
CWE Classification CWE-338: Use of Cryptographically Weak Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG)
Affected Product Ethyca fides
Package Ecosystem PyPI
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 8.2

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:N/I:L/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 None (C:N)
Integrity Low (I:L)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2023-48224

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

ethyca-fides fixed: 2.24.0
pip install ethyca-fides>=2.24.0
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 ethyca-fides

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Python environment is affected by CVE-2023-48224, inspect your installed packages using pip:

pip show ethyca-fides

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Ethyca fides in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 2.24.0), your application is affected.

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

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-338: Use of Cryptographically Weak Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG), where the product uses a pseudo-random number generator (prng) in a security context, but the prng's algorithm is not cryptographically strong. In Ethyca fides, 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 The Fides Privacy Center allows data subject users to submit privacy and consent requests to data controller users of the Fides web application. Privacy requests allow data subjects to submit a request to access all person data held by the data controller, or delete/erase it. Consent request allows data subject users to modify their privacy preferences for how the data controller uses their personal data e.g. data sales and sharing consent opt-in/opt-out. If `subject_identity_verification_required` in the `[execution]` section of `fides.toml` or the env var `FIDES__EXECUTION__SUBJECT_IDENTITY_VERIFICATION_REQUIRED` is set to `True` on the fides webserver backend, data subjects are sent a one-time code to their email address or phone number, depending on messaging configuration, and the one-time code must be entered in the Privacy Center UI by the data subject before the privacy or consent request is submitted. It was identified that the one-time code values for these requests were generated by the python `random` module, a cryptographically weak pseduo-random number generator (PNRG). If an attacker generates several hundred consecutive one-time codes, this vulnerability allows the attacker to predict all future one-time code values during the lifetime of the backend python process. There is no security impact on data access requests as the personal data download package is not shared in the Privacy Center itself. However, this vulnerability allows an attacker to (i) submit a verified data erasure request, resulting in deletion of data for the targeted user and (ii) submit a verified consent request, modifying a user's privacy preferences. ### Patches The vulnerability has been patched in Fides version `2.24.0`. Users are advised to upgrade to this version or later to secure their systems against this threat. ### Workarounds None ### References * https://peps.python.org/pep-0506/

CVE-2023-48224 Affected Ethyca fides Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
2.24.0
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
ethyca-fides
PyPI
< 2.24.0
2.24.0

References

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2023-48224?
CVE-2023-48224 is a security vulnerability in Ethyca fides involving Ethyca Fides Cryptographically Weak Generation of One-Time Codes for Identity Verification under CWE-338: Use of Cryptographically Weak Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG).
Which Ethyca fides versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 2.24.0 across affected packages: ethyca-fides.
What version fixes CVE-2023-48224?
Upgrading to 2.24.0 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is ethyca-fides affected?
Yes, ethyca-fides is affected in releases prior to 2.24.0. Upgrade your dependency to 2.24.0 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2023-48224?
CVE-2023-48224 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.2 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2023-48224?
CVE-2023-48224 is classified under CWE-338: Use of Cryptographically Weak Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG) (The product uses a Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG) in a security context, but the PRNG's algorithm is not cryptographically strong.).
How can I check PyPI dependencies for CVE-2023-48224?
Run the dependency tree command: 'pip show ethyca-fides'. 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
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-82vr-5769-6358",
  "modified" : "2023-11-16T14:33:06Z",
  "published" : "2023-11-16T14:33:06Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2023-48224" ],
  "summary" : "Ethyca Fides Cryptographically Weak Generation of One-Time Codes for Identity Verification",
  "details" : "### Impact\n\nThe Fides Privacy Center allows data subject users to submit privacy and consent requests to data controller users of the Fides web application.\n\nPrivacy requests allow data subjects to submit a request to access all person data held by the data controller, or delete/erase it.  Consent request allows data subject users to modify their privacy preferences for how the data controller uses their personal data e.g. data sales and sharing consent opt-in/opt-out.\n\nIf `subject_identity_verification_required` in the `[execution]` section of `fides.toml` or the env var `FIDES__EXECUTION__SUBJECT_IDENTITY_VERIFICATION_REQUIRED` is set to `True` on the fides webserver backend, data subjects are sent a one-time code to their email address or phone number, depending on messaging configuration, and the one-time code must be entered in the Privacy Center UI by the data subject before the privacy or consent request is submitted.\n\nIt was identified that the one-time code values for these requests were generated by the python `random` module, a cryptographically weak pseduo-random number generator (PNRG). If an attacker generates several hundred consecutive one-time codes, this vulnerability allows the attacker to predict all future one-time code values during the lifetime of the backend python process.\n\nThere is no security impact on data access requests as the personal data download package is not shared in the Privacy Center itself. However, this vulnerability allows an attacker to (i) submit a verified data erasure request, resulting in deletion of data for the targeted user and (ii) submit a verified consent request, modifying a user's privacy preferences.\n\n### Patches\nThe vulnerability has been patched in Fides version `2.24.0`. Users are advised to upgrade to this version or later to secure their systems against this threat.\n\n### Workarounds\nNone\n\n### References\n* https://peps.python.org/pep-0506/",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "PyPI",
      "name" : "ethyca-fides"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "2.24.0"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/ethyca/fides/security/advisories/GHSA-82vr-5769-6358"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-48224"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/ethyca/fides/commit/685bae61c203d29ed189f4b066a5223a9bb774c6"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/ethyca/fides"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://peps.python.org/pep-0506"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-338" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2023-11-16T14:33:06Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2023-11-15T21:15:08Z"
  }
}