CyberSecBulletin
CVE-2022-40186NVD status: Modified

Vault: Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key

Published Updated By the CyberSecBulletin desk

CVE-2022-40186 is a critical-severity authorization bypass through user-controlled key vulnerability in Vault from HashiCorp, with a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.1 out of 10. It can be exploited remotely over the network by an unauthenticated attacker, without any action from a user. The record lists versions 1.9.9, 1.10.6, 1.11.3 as the first without the flaw, so updating Vault to one of those releases or later removes the exposure. There is no confirmed exploitation so far. EPSS estimates a 1% chance of exploitation within 30 days, higher than 63% of scored CVEs.

Patch this week

Critical severity: a successful attack would have severe impact.

What to do

  1. Update Vault to 1.9.9 or 1.10.6 or 1.11.3, whichever matches your release line, or a later version.
  2. Read the advisory on discuss.hashicorp.com for workarounds and exact fixed builds.
  3. Until you can update, restrict network access to the affected service so it is not reachable from untrusted networks.

Affected products and versions

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed in
HashiCorpVault1.8.0 up to, but not including, 1.9.9; 1.10.0 up to, but not including, 1.10.6; 1.11.0 up to, but not including, 1.11.31.9.9, 1.10.6, 1.11.3

Version data comes from NVD's product matching. Confirm against the vendor advisory before deciding you are unaffected.

How the severity score breaks down

Attack vector
NetworkCan be exploited remotely over a network, including the internet.
Attack complexity
LowNo special conditions are needed; the attack works reliably.
Privileges required
NoneNo account or login is needed.
User interaction
NoneNo action by a victim is required.
Scope
UnchangedImpact stays within the vulnerable component.
Confidentiality
HighAll data handled by the component can be read.
Integrity
HighData or code can be modified at will.
Availability
NoneAvailability is not affected.

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N. Scored by NVD.

Scoring systemScoreSeverityScored by
CVSS 3.19.1CriticalNVD
CVSS 3.19.1CriticalCISA (ADP)

Official description

An issue was discovered in HashiCorp Vault and Vault Enterprise before 1.11.3. A vulnerability in the Identity Engine was found where, in a deployment where an entity has multiple mount accessors with shared alias names, Vault may overwrite metadata to the wrong alias due to an issue with checking the proper alias assigned to an entity. This may allow for unintended access to key/value paths using that metadata in Vault.

Source: the CVE record as published by its numbering authority, via NVD and CVE.org.

The underlying weakness: Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key

The system's authorization functionality does not prevent one user from gaining access to another user's data or record by modifying the key value identifying the data.

How developers prevent this class of flaw

  • For each and every data access, ensure that the user has sufficient privilege to access the record that is being requested.
  • Make sure that the key that is used in the lookup of a specific user's record is not controllable externally by the user or that any tampering can be detected.
  • Use encryption in order to make it more difficult to guess other legitimate values of the key or associate a digital signature with the key so that the server can verify that there has been no tampering.

More Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key vulnerabilities (CWE-639)

Timeline

  1. CVE record published.
  2. CISA published its SSVC assessment (exploitation: none, automatable: yes, technical impact: total).
  3. Record last changed materially (score, affected products, status or references).

References

Third-party and government advisories

Other vulnerabilities in Vault

All Vault vulnerabilities

Recent Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key vulnerabilities

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