CVE-2023-0163: Detailed Vulnerability Analysis and Overview

CVE-2023-0163 Vulnerability Summary

Improperly Controlled Modification of Object Prototype Attributes ('Prototype Pollution') vulnerability in Mozilla Convict. This allows an attacker to inject attributes that are used in other components, or to override existing attributes with ones that have incompatible type, which may lead to a crash. The main use case of Convict is for handling server-side configurations written by the admins owning the servers, and not random users. So it's unlikely that an admin would deliberately sabotage their own server. Still, a situation can happen where an admin not knowledgeable about JavaScript could be tricked by an attacker into writing the malicious JavaScript code into some config files. This issue affects Convict: before 6.2.4.

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CVE-2023-0163: Detailed Information and External References

EPSS

0.00043

EPSS %

0.10929

References

0.00043

• https://github.com/mozilla/node-convict/issues/410
• https://github.com/mozilla/node-convict/security/advisories/GHSA-4jrm-c32x-w4jf

CWE

CWE-1321

CAPEC

0.00043

• Accessing Functionality Not Properly Constrained by ACLs: In applications, particularly web applications, access to functionality is mitigated by an authorization framework. This framework maps Access Control Lists (ACLs) to elements of the application's functionality; particularly URL's for web apps. In the case that the administrator failed to specify an ACL for a particular element, an attacker may be able to access it with impunity. An attacker with the ability to access functionality not properly constrained by ACLs can obtain sensitive information and possibly compromise the entire application. Such an attacker can access resources that must be available only to users at a higher privilege level, can access management sections of the application, or can run queries for data that they otherwise not supposed to.
• Exploiting Incorrectly Configured Access Control Security Levels: An attacker exploits a weakness in the configuration of access controls and is able to bypass the intended protection that these measures guard against and thereby obtain unauthorized access to the system or network. Sensitive functionality should always be protected with access controls. However configuring all but the most trivial access control systems can be very complicated and there are many opportunities for mistakes. If an attacker can learn of incorrectly configured access security settings, they may be able to exploit this in an attack.
• Manipulating User-Controlled Variables: This attack targets user controlled variables (DEBUG=1, PHP Globals, and So Forth). An adversary can override variables leveraging user-supplied, untrusted query variables directly used on the application server without any data sanitization. In extreme cases, the adversary can change variables controlling the business logic of the application. For instance, in languages like PHP, a number of poorly set default configurations may allow the user to override variables.

CVSS3 Source

134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

CVSS3 Type

Secondary

CVSS3 Vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H