webhood: Missing Authentication for Critical Functionality
CVE-2024-31218 is a critical-severity missing authentication for critical functionality vulnerability in webhood from Webhood-io, with a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8 out of 10. It can be exploited remotely over the network by an unauthenticated attacker, without any action from a user. Affected webhood versions: < 0.9.1. The record does not name a fixed version, so check the vendor advisory. There is no confirmed exploitation so far. EPSS estimates a 0.72% chance of exploitation within 30 days, higher than 55% of scored CVEs.
Critical severity: a successful attack would have severe impact.
What to do
- Update webhood to 0.9.1 or a later version.
- Read the advisory on github.com for workarounds and exact fixed builds.
- Until you can update, restrict network access to the affected service so it is not reachable from untrusted networks.
Affected products and versions
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Webhood-io | webhood | < 0.9.1 | Not stated |
| Webhoodio | webhood | before 0.9.1 | 0.9.1 |
Version data comes from the organisation that assigned the CVE. 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
- HighThe component can be taken down completely.
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H. Scored by CNA (github.com).
Official description
Webhood is a self-hosted URL scanner used analyzing phishing and malicious sites. Webhood's backend container images in versions 0.9.0 and earlier are subject to Missing Authentication for Critical Function vulnerability. This vulnerability allows an unauthenticated attacker to send a HTTP request to the database (Pocketbase) admin API to create an admin account. The Pocketbase admin API does not check for authentication/authorization when creating an admin account when no admin accounts have been added. In its default deployment, Webhood does not create a database admin account. Therefore, unless users have manually created an admin account in the database, an admin account will not exist in the deployment and the deployment is vulnerable. Versions starting from 0.9.1 are patched. The patch creates a randomly generated admin account if admin accounts have not already been created i.e. the vulnerability is exploitable in the deployment. As a workaround, users can disable access to URL path starting with `/api/admins` entirely. With this workaround, the vulnerability is not exploitable via network.
Source: the CVE record as published by its numbering authority, via NVD and CVE.org.
The underlying weakness: Missing Authentication for Critical Functionality
The product does not perform any authentication for functionality that requires a provable user identity or consumes a significant amount of resources.
How developers prevent this class of flaw
- For any security checks that are performed on the client side, ensure that these checks are duplicated on the server side, in order to avoid CWE-602. Attackers can bypass the client-side checks by modifying values after the checks have been performed, or by changing the client to remove the client-side checks entirely. Then, these modified values would be submitted to the server.
- Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid. For example, consider using libraries with authentication capabilities such as OpenSSL or the ESAPI Authenticator.
- When storing data in the cloud (e.g., S3 buckets, Azure blobs, Google Cloud Storage, etc.), use the provider's controls to require strong authentication for users who should be allowed to access the data.
More Missing Authentication for Critical Functionality vulnerabilities (CWE-306)
Timeline
- CVE record published.
- CISA published its SSVC assessment (exploitation: none, automatable: yes, technical impact: total).
- Record last changed materially (score, affected products, status or references).
References
Patches and release notes
Recent Missing Authentication for Critical Functionality vulnerabilities
- 7.5 High severity
- 9.8 Critical severity
- 9.8 Critical severity
- 8.8 High severity
- 8.2 High severity
- 8.4 High severity
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