Vulnerabilities > CVE-2018-11749 - Cleartext Transmission of Sensitive Information vulnerability in Puppet Enterprise
Attack vector
NETWORK Attack complexity
LOW Privileges required
NONE Confidentiality impact
HIGH Integrity impact
HIGH Availability impact
HIGH Summary
When users are configured to use startTLS with RBAC LDAP, at login time, the user's credentials are sent via plaintext to the LDAP server. This affects Puppet Enterprise 2018.1.3, 2017.3.9, and 2016.4.14, and is fixed in Puppet Enterprise 2018.1.4, 2017.3.10, and 2016.4.15. It scored an 8.5 CVSS score.
Vulnerable Configurations
Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE)
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)
- Session Sidejacking Session sidejacking takes advantage of an unencrypted communication channel between a victim and target system. The attacker sniffs traffic on a network looking for session tokens in unencrypted traffic. Once a session token is captured, the attacker performs malicious actions by using the stolen token with the targeted application to impersonate the victim. This attack is a specific method of session hijacking, which is exploiting a valid session token to gain unauthorized access to a target system or information. Other methods to perform a session hijacking are session fixation, cross-site scripting, or compromising a user or server machine and stealing the session token.
- Footprinting An attacker engages in probing and exploration activity to identify constituents and properties of the target. Footprinting is a general term to describe a variety of information gathering techniques, often used by attackers in preparation for some attack. It consists of using tools to learn as much as possible about the composition, configuration, and security mechanisms of the targeted application, system or network. Information that might be collected during a footprinting effort could include open ports, applications and their versions, network topology, and similar information. While footprinting is not intended to be damaging (although certain activities, such as network scans, can sometimes cause disruptions to vulnerable applications inadvertently) it may often pave the way for more damaging attacks.
- Harvesting Usernames or UserIDs via Application API Event Monitoring An attacker hosts an event within an application framework and then monitors the data exchanged during the course of the event for the purpose of harvesting any important data leaked during the transactions. One example could be harvesting lists of usernames or userIDs for the purpose of sending spam messages to those users. One example of this type of attack involves the attacker creating an event within the sub-application. Assume the attacker hosts a "virtual sale" of rare items. As other users enter the event, the attacker records via MITM proxy the user_ids and usernames of everyone who attends. The attacker would then be able to spam those users within the application using an automated script.
- Signature Spoofing by Mixing Signed and Unsigned Content An attacker exploits the underlying complexity of a data structure that allows for both signed and unsigned content, to cause unsigned data to be processed as though it were signed data.
- Passively Sniff and Capture Application Code Bound for Authorized Client Attackers can capture application code bound for the client and can use it, as-is or through reverse-engineering, to glean sensitive information or exploit the trust relationship between the client and server. Such code may belong to a dynamic update to the client, a patch being applied to a client component or any such interaction where the client is authorized to communicate with the server.
Nessus
| NASL family | CGI abuses |
| NASL id | PUPPET_ENTERPRISE_2018_1_4.NASL |
| description | A plaintext credential vulnerability exists when users are configured to use startTLS with Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP). An unauthenticated, remote attacker can exploit this to bypass authentication to see the users credentials in plaintext. (CVE-2018-11749) |
| last seen | 2020-06-01 |
| modified | 2020-06-02 |
| plugin id | 129762 |
| published | 2019-10-09 |
| reporter | This script is Copyright (C) 2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. |
| source | https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/129762 |
| title | Puppet Enterprise 2016.x < 2016.4.15 / 2017.x < 2017.3.10 / 2018.x < 2018.1.4 Plaintext Credential Vulnerability |
| code | |