GHSA-mhgm-52vg-pvvc: Strongbox sdk Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

MODERATE
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CWE-269
Published
Advisory Summary

GHSA-mhgm-52vg-pvvc is a MODERATE privilege escalation vulnerability (CWE-269: Improper Privilege Management) affecting Strongbox sdk libraries in the Maven ecosystem. The issue involves privilege escalation in strongbox. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 0.5.0.

GHSA-mhgm-52vg-pvvc at a Glance

CVE Identifier N/A
GHSA Identifier GHSA-mhgm-52vg-pvvc
Severity MODERATE
CVSS v3.1 Base Score N/A
CWE Classification CWE-269: Improper Privilege Management
Affected Product Strongbox sdk
Package Ecosystem Maven
Published Date
Last Updated

How to Fix GHSA-mhgm-52vg-pvvc

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

com.schibsted.security:strongbox-sdk fixed: 0.5.0 
<dependency>
    <groupId>com.schibsted.security</groupId>
    <artifactId>strongbox-sdk</artifactId>
    <version>0.5.0</version>
</dependency>
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

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

mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=com.schibsted.security

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Java application is affected by GHSA-mhgm-52vg-pvvc, inspect your build dependencies using the Maven Dependency Plugin:

mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=com.schibsted.security

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Strongbox sdk in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 0.5.0), your application is affected.

Note: The mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=com.schibsted.security command inspects the resolved dependency graph declared in your project's POM files; it does not perform automated security scanning or inspect runtime dynamic classpaths. Always verify runtime container classpaths and shaded JARs.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-269: Improper Privilege Management, where the product does not properly assign, modify, track, or check privileges for an actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor. In Strongbox sdk, 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 An attacker with read-only access to a Strongbox secret could craft a valid encrypted secret (same id/version). It also makes the audit logs from KMS less useful. The issue is caused by a bug in the underlying AWS Encryption SDK. By default, the encrypted secrets are stored in DynamoDB and an attacker with read-only access would not be able to write the encrypted secret to DynamoDB. So in practice the impact should be limited for most users. Strongbox supports storing data in files as an alternative to DynamoDB. If the attacker had write access to where the files are stored they could make the attack work end-to-end. Similarly, any custom storage backend could also be affected. In order to be backwards compatible Strongbox will not make use of key commitments (another improvement to the AWS Encryption SDK). Strongbox enforces that only one KMS key can be used, and it must match the expected one. This means that an attacker needs write access to both KMS and DynamoDB (or other storage backend) to stage an attack, which is not a scenario Strongbox is designed to protect against. ### Patches Fixed in version 0.5.0. ### Workarounds None ### References - https://github.com/aws/aws-encryption-sdk-java/security/advisories/GHSA-55xh-53m6-936r - https://docs.aws.amazon.com/encryption-sdk/latest/developer-guide/concepts.html#key-commitment

GHSA-mhgm-52vg-pvvc Affected Strongbox sdk Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
0.5.0
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
com.schibsted.security:strongbox-sdk
maven/com.schibsted.security/strongbox-sdk
Maven
< 0.5.0
0.5.0

References

GitHub Advisory / Wiki ADVISORY
https://github.com/schibsted/strongbox/security/advisories/GHSA-mhgm-52vg-pvvc
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/schibsted/strongbox/commit/e61f7c36efa898e8b44de6222cd66d2bcdd073e6
Strongbox sdk Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/schibsted/strongbox

Frequently Asked Questions

What is GHSA-mhgm-52vg-pvvc?
GHSA-mhgm-52vg-pvvc is a security vulnerability in Strongbox sdk involving Privilege escalation in Strongbox under CWE-269: Improper Privilege Management.
Which Strongbox sdk versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 0.5.0 across affected packages: com.schibsted.security:strongbox-sdk.
What version fixes GHSA-mhgm-52vg-pvvc?
Upgrading to 0.5.0 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is strongbox-sdk affected?
Yes, com.schibsted.security:strongbox-sdk is affected in releases prior to 0.5.0. Upgrade your dependency to 0.5.0 or later.
What CWE is associated with GHSA-mhgm-52vg-pvvc?
GHSA-mhgm-52vg-pvvc is classified under CWE-269: Improper Privilege Management (The product does not properly assign, modify, track, or check privileges for an actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor.).
How can I check Maven dependencies for GHSA-mhgm-52vg-pvvc?
Run the dependency tree command: 'mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=com.schibsted.security'. 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-mhgm-52vg-pvvc",
  "modified" : "2023-02-16T14:12:04Z",
  "published" : "2023-02-16T14:12:04Z",
  "aliases" : [ ],
  "summary" : "Privilege escalation in Strongbox",
  "details" : "### Impact\nAn attacker with read-only access to a Strongbox secret could craft a valid encrypted secret (same id/version). It also makes the audit logs from KMS less useful. The issue is caused by a bug in the underlying AWS Encryption SDK.\n\nBy default, the encrypted secrets are stored in DynamoDB and an attacker with read-only access would not be able to write the encrypted secret to DynamoDB. So in practice the impact should be limited for most users.\n\nStrongbox supports storing data in files as an alternative to DynamoDB. If the attacker had write access to where the files are stored they could make the attack work end-to-end. Similarly, any custom storage backend could also be affected.\n\nIn order to be backwards compatible Strongbox will not make use of key commitments (another improvement to the AWS Encryption SDK). Strongbox enforces that only one KMS key can be used, and it must match the expected one. This means that an attacker needs write access to both KMS and DynamoDB (or other storage backend) to stage an attack, which is not a scenario Strongbox is designed to protect against.\n\n### Patches\nFixed in version 0.5.0.\n\n### Workarounds\nNone\n\n### References\n- https://github.com/aws/aws-encryption-sdk-java/security/advisories/GHSA-55xh-53m6-936r\n- https://docs.aws.amazon.com/encryption-sdk/latest/developer-guide/concepts.html#key-commitment",
  "severity" : [ ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Maven",
      "name" : "com.schibsted.security:strongbox-sdk"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "0.5.0"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/schibsted/strongbox/security/advisories/GHSA-mhgm-52vg-pvvc"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/schibsted/strongbox/commit/e61f7c36efa898e8b44de6222cd66d2bcdd073e6"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/schibsted/strongbox"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-269" ],
    "severity" : "MODERATE",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2023-02-16T14:12:04Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : null
  }
}