CVE-2024-41942: Jupyterhub Users` Scope Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-9x4q-3gxw-849f
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CVSS 7.2
CWE-274
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2024-41942 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.2) users` scope vulnerability (CWE-274: Improper Handling of Insufficient Privileges) affecting Jupyterhub libraries in the PyPI ecosystem. The issue involves users` scope. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 4.1.6, 5.1.0.

CVE-2024-41942 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2024-41942
GHSA Identifier GHSA-9x4q-3gxw-849f
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.2
CWE Classification CWE-274: Improper Handling of Insufficient Privileges
Affected Product Jupyterhub
Package Ecosystem PyPI
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 7.2

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

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required High (PR:H)
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-2024-41942

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

jupyterhub fixed: 4.1.6 
pip install jupyterhub>=4.1.6
jupyterhub fixed: 5.1.0 
pip install jupyterhub>=5.1.0
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 jupyterhub

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Python environment is affected by CVE-2024-41942, inspect your installed packages using pip:

pip show jupyterhub

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Jupyterhub in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 4.1.6), your application is affected.

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

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-274: Improper Handling of Insufficient Privileges, where the product does not handle or incorrectly handles when it has insufficient privileges to perform an operation, leading to resultant weaknesses. In Jupyterhub, 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

### Summary If a user is granted the `admin:users` scope, they may escalate their own privileges by making themselves a full admin user. ### Details The `admin:users` scope allows a user to edit user records: > admin:users > > Read, write, create and delete users and their authentication state, not including their servers or tokens. > > -- https://jupyterhub.readthedocs.io/en/stable/rbac/scopes.html#available-scopes However, this includes making users admins. Admin users are granted scopes beyond `admin:users` making this a mechanism by which granted scopes may be escalated. ### Impact The impact is relatively small in that `admin:users` is already an extremely privileged scope only granted to trusted users. In effect, `admin:users` is equivalent to `admin=True`, which is not intended. Note that the change here only prevents escalation to the built-in JupyterHub admin role that has unrestricted permissions. It does not prevent users with e.g. `groups` permissions from granting themselves or other users permissions via group membership, which is intentional.

CVE-2024-41942 Affected Jupyterhub Versions

2 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
4.1.65.1.0
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
jupyterhub
pypi/jupyterhub
PyPI
< 4.1.6
4.1.6
jupyterhub
pypi/jupyterhub
PyPI
≥ 5.0.0
< 5.1.0
5.1.0

References

GitHub Advisory / Wiki ADVISORY
https://github.com/jupyterhub/jupyterhub/security/advisories/GHSA-9x4q-3gxw-849f
NVD — CVE-2024-41942 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-41942
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/jupyterhub/jupyterhub/commit/99e2720b0fc626cbeeca3c6337f917fdacfaa428
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/jupyterhub/jupyterhub/commit/ff2db557a85b6980f90c3158634bf924063ab8ba
Jupyterhub Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/jupyterhub/jupyterhub
Jupyterhub Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/jupyterhub/PYSEC-2024-200.yaml

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2024-41942?
CVE-2024-41942 is a security vulnerability in Jupyterhub involving users` scope under CWE-274: Improper Handling of Insufficient Privileges.
Which Jupyterhub versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 4.1.6, 5.1.0 across affected packages: jupyterhub.
What version fixes CVE-2024-41942?
Upgrading to 4.1.6, 5.1.0 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is jupyterhub affected?
Yes, jupyterhub is affected in releases prior to 4.1.6, 5.1.0. Upgrade your dependency to 4.1.6, 5.1.0 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2024-41942?
CVE-2024-41942 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.2 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2024-41942?
CVE-2024-41942 is classified under CWE-274: Improper Handling of Insufficient Privileges (The product does not handle or incorrectly handles when it has insufficient privileges to perform an operation, leading to resultant weaknesses.).
How can I check PyPI dependencies for CVE-2024-41942?
Run the dependency tree command: 'pip show jupyterhub'. 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-9x4q-3gxw-849f",
  "modified" : "2025-01-21T17:56:40Z",
  "published" : "2024-08-08T14:37:06Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2024-41942" ],
  "summary" : "JupyterHub has a privilege escalation vulnerability with the `admin:users` scope",
  "details" : "### Summary\n\nIf a user is granted the `admin:users` scope, they may escalate their own privileges by making themselves a full admin user.\n\n### Details\n\nThe `admin:users` scope allows a user to edit user records:\n\n> admin:users\n>\n> Read, write, create and delete users and their authentication state, not including their servers or tokens.\n>\n> -- https://jupyterhub.readthedocs.io/en/stable/rbac/scopes.html#available-scopes\n\nHowever, this includes making users admins. Admin users are granted scopes beyond `admin:users` making this a mechanism by which granted scopes may be escalated.\n\n### Impact\n\nThe impact is relatively small in that `admin:users` is already an extremely privileged scope only granted to trusted users.\nIn effect, `admin:users` is equivalent to `admin=True`, which is not intended.\n\nNote that the change here only prevents escalation to the built-in JupyterHub admin role that has unrestricted permissions. It does not prevent users with e.g. `groups` permissions from granting themselves or other users permissions via group membership, which is intentional.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"
  }, {
    "type" : "CVSS_V4",
    "score" : "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "PyPI",
      "name" : "jupyterhub"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "4.1.6"
      } ]
    } ]
  }, {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "PyPI",
      "name" : "jupyterhub"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "5.0.0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "5.1.0"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/jupyterhub/jupyterhub/security/advisories/GHSA-9x4q-3gxw-849f"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-41942"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/jupyterhub/jupyterhub/commit/99e2720b0fc626cbeeca3c6337f917fdacfaa428"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/jupyterhub/jupyterhub/commit/ff2db557a85b6980f90c3158634bf924063ab8ba"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/jupyterhub/jupyterhub"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/jupyterhub/PYSEC-2024-200.yaml"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-274" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2024-08-08T14:37:06Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2024-08-08T15:15:17Z"
  }
}