Vulnerabilities > CVE-2018-17244 - Information Exposure vulnerability in Elastic Elasticsearch 6.4.0/6.4.1/6.4.2

047910
CVSS 6.5 - MEDIUM
Attack vector
NETWORK
Attack complexity
LOW
Privileges required
LOW
Confidentiality impact
HIGH
Integrity impact
NONE
Availability impact
NONE
network
low complexity
elastic
CWE-200
nessus
NVD
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2024-11-21

Summary

Elasticsearch Security versions 6.4.0 to 6.4.2 contain an error in the way request headers are applied to requests when using the Active Directory, LDAP, Native, or File realms. A request may receive headers intended for another request if the same username is being authenticated concurrently; when used with run as, this can result in the request running as the incorrect user. This could allow a user to access information that they should not have access to.

Vulnerable Configurations

Part Description Count
Application
Elastic
3

Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

  • Subverting Environment Variable Values
    The attacker directly or indirectly modifies environment variables used by or controlling the target software. The attacker's goal is to cause the target software to deviate from its expected operation in a manner that benefits the attacker.
  • 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.
  • Exploiting Trust in Client (aka Make the Client Invisible)
    An attack of this type exploits a programs' vulnerabilities in client/server communication channel authentication and data integrity. It leverages the implicit trust a server places in the client, or more importantly, that which the server believes is the client. An attacker executes this type of attack by placing themselves in the communication channel between client and server such that communication directly to the server is possible where the server believes it is communicating only with a valid client. There are numerous variations of this type of attack.
  • Browser Fingerprinting
    An attacker carefully crafts small snippets of Java Script to efficiently detect the type of browser the potential victim is using. Many web-based attacks need prior knowledge of the web browser including the version of browser to ensure successful exploitation of a vulnerability. Having this knowledge allows an attacker to target the victim with attacks that specifically exploit known or zero day weaknesses in the type and version of the browser used by the victim. Automating this process via Java Script as a part of the same delivery system used to exploit the browser is considered more efficient as the attacker can supply a browser fingerprinting method and integrate it with exploit code, all contained in Java Script and in response to the same web page request by the browser.
  • Session Credential Falsification through Prediction
    This attack targets predictable session ID in order to gain privileges. The attacker can predict the session ID used during a transaction to perform spoofing and session hijacking.

Nessus

  • NASL familyPhotonOS Local Security Checks
    NASL idPHOTONOS_PHSA-2019-2_0-0132_ELASTICSEARCH.NASL
    descriptionAn update of the elasticsearch package has been released.
    last seen2020-06-01
    modified2020-06-02
    plugin id122906
    published2019-03-18
    reporterThis script is Copyright (C) 2019-2020 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.
    sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/122906
    titlePhoton OS 2.0: Elasticsearch PHSA-2019-2.0-0132
    code
    #
# (C) Tenable Network Security, Inc.
#

# The descriptive text and package checks in this plugin were
# extracted from VMware Security Advisory PHSA-2019-2.0-0132. The text
# itself is copyright (C) VMware, Inc.

include("compat.inc");

if (description)
{
  script_id(122906);
  script_version("1.2");
  script_cvs_date("Date: 2020/02/04");

  script_cve_id("CVE-2018-17244");

  script_name(english:"Photon OS 2.0: Elasticsearch PHSA-2019-2.0-0132");
  script_summary(english:"Checks the rpm output for the updated packages.");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"synopsis", value:
"The remote PhotonOS host is missing multiple security updates.");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"description", value:
"An update of the elasticsearch package has been released.");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"see_also", value:"https://github.com/vmware/photon/wiki/Security-Updates-2-132.md");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"solution", value:
"Update the affected Linux packages.");
  script_set_cvss_base_vector("CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P");
  script_set_cvss_temporal_vector("CVSS2#E:U/RL:OF/RC:C");
  script_set_cvss3_base_vector("CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H");
  script_set_cvss3_temporal_vector("CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cvss_score_source", value:"CVE-2018-17246");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploitability_ease", value:"No known exploits are available");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"vuln_publication_date", value:"2018/11/07");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"patch_publication_date", value:"2019/02/21");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_publication_date", value:"2019/03/18");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_type", value:"local");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:vmware:photonos:elasticsearch");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:vmware:photonos:2.0");
  script_end_attributes();

  script_category(ACT_GATHER_INFO);
  script_family(english:"PhotonOS Local Security Checks");

  script_copyright(english:"This script is Copyright (C) 2019-2020 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.");

  script_dependencies("ssh_get_info.nasl");
  script_require_keys("Host/local_checks_enabled", "Host/PhotonOS/release", "Host/PhotonOS/rpm-list");

  exit(0);
}

include("audit.inc");
include("global_settings.inc");
include("rpm.inc");

if (!get_kb_item("Host/local_checks_enabled")) audit(AUDIT_LOCAL_CHECKS_NOT_ENABLED);

release = get_kb_item("Host/PhotonOS/release");
if (isnull(release) || release !~ "^VMware Photon") audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "PhotonOS");
if (release !~ "^VMware Photon (?:Linux|OS) 2\.0(\D|$)") audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "PhotonOS 2.0");

if (!get_kb_item("Host/PhotonOS/rpm-list")) audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_LIST_MISSING);

cpu = get_kb_item("Host/cpu");
if (isnull(cpu)) audit(AUDIT_UNKNOWN_ARCH);
if ("x86_64" >!< cpu && cpu !~ "^i[3-6]86$") audit(AUDIT_LOCAL_CHECKS_NOT_IMPLEMENTED, "PhotonOS", cpu);

flag = 0;

if (rpm_check(release:"PhotonOS-2.0", reference:"elasticsearch-6.4.3-1.ph2")) flag++;

if (flag)
{
  security_report_v4(
    port       : 0,
    severity   : SECURITY_HOLE,
    extra      : rpm_report_get()
  );
  exit(0);
}
else
{
  tested = pkg_tests_get();
  if (tested) audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_NOT_AFFECTED, tested);
  else audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_NOT_INSTALLED, "elasticsearch");
}
  • NASL familyPhotonOS Local Security Checks
    NASL idPHOTONOS_PHSA-2019-1_0-0209_ELASTICSEARCH.NASL
    descriptionAn update of the elasticsearch package has been released.
    last seen2020-06-01
    modified2020-06-02
    plugin id133297
    published2020-01-28
    reporterThis script is Copyright (C) 2020 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.
    sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/133297
    titlePhoton OS 1.0: Elasticsearch PHSA-2019-1.0-0209
    code
    #
# (C) Tenable Network Security, Inc.
#

# The descriptive text and package checks in this plugin were
# extracted from VMware Security Advisory PHSA-2019-1.0-0209. The text
# itself is copyright (C) VMware, Inc.

include('compat.inc');

if (description)
{
  script_id(133297);
  script_version("1.2");
  script_cvs_date("Date: 2020/01/29");

  script_cve_id("CVE-2018-17244");
  script_bugtraq_id(106318);

  script_name(english:"Photon OS 1.0: Elasticsearch PHSA-2019-1.0-0209");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"synopsis", value:
"The remote PhotonOS host is missing multiple security updates.");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"description", value:
"An update of the elasticsearch package has been released.");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"see_also", value:"https://github.com/vmware/photon/wiki/Security-Updates-1.0-209.md");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"solution", value:
"Update the affected Linux packages.");
  script_set_cvss_base_vector("CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:N/A:N");
  script_set_cvss_temporal_vector("CVSS2#E:U/RL:OF/RC:C");
  script_set_cvss3_base_vector("CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N");
  script_set_cvss3_temporal_vector("CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cvss_score_source", value:"CVE-2018-17244");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploitability_ease", value:"No known exploits are available");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"vuln_publication_date", value:"2018/12/20");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"patch_publication_date", value:"2019/02/20");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_publication_date", value:"2020/01/28");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_type", value:"local");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:vmware:photonos:elasticsearch");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:vmware:photonos:1.0");
  script_end_attributes();

  script_category(ACT_GATHER_INFO);
  script_family(english:"PhotonOS Local Security Checks");

  script_copyright(english:"This script is Copyright (C) 2020 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.");

  script_dependencies("ssh_get_info.nasl");
  script_require_keys("Host/local_checks_enabled", "Host/PhotonOS/release", "Host/PhotonOS/rpm-list");

  exit(0);
}

include("audit.inc");
include("global_settings.inc");
include("rpm.inc");

if (!get_kb_item("Host/local_checks_enabled")) audit(AUDIT_LOCAL_CHECKS_NOT_ENABLED);

release = get_kb_item("Host/PhotonOS/release");
if (isnull(release) || release !~ "^VMware Photon") audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "PhotonOS");
if (release !~ "^VMware Photon (?:Linux|OS) 1\.0(\D|$)") audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "PhotonOS 1.0");

if (!get_kb_item("Host/PhotonOS/rpm-list")) audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_LIST_MISSING);

cpu = get_kb_item("Host/cpu");
if (isnull(cpu)) audit(AUDIT_UNKNOWN_ARCH);
if ("x86_64" >!< cpu && cpu !~ "^i[3-6]86$" && "aarch64" >!< cpu) audit(AUDIT_LOCAL_CHECKS_NOT_IMPLEMENTED, "PhotonOS", cpu);

flag = 0;

if (rpm_exists(rpm:"elasticsearch-6.4", release:"PhotonOS-1.0") && rpm_check(release:"PhotonOS-1.0", cpu:"x86_64", reference:"elasticsearch-6.4.3-1.ph1")) flag++;
if (rpm_exists(rpm:"elasticsearch-6.4", release:"PhotonOS-1.0") && rpm_check(release:"PhotonOS-1.0", cpu:"src", reference:"elasticsearch-6.4.3-1.ph1.src")) flag++;

if (flag)
{
  security_report_v4(
    port       : 0,
    severity   : SECURITY_WARNING,
    extra      : rpm_report_get()
  );
  exit(0);
}
else
{
  tested = pkg_tests_get();
  if (tested) audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_NOT_AFFECTED, tested);
  else audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_NOT_INSTALLED, "elasticsearch");
}
  • NASL familyCGI abuses
    NASL idELASTICSEARCH_ESA_2018_16.NASL
    descriptionElasticsearch Security versions 6.4.0 to 6.4.2 contain an error in the way request headers are applied to requests when using the Active Directory, LDAP, Native, or File realms. A request may receive headers intended for another request if the same username is being authenticated concurrently; when used with run as, this can result in the request running as the incorrect user. This could allow a user to access information that they should not have access to.
    last seen2020-06-01
    modified2020-06-02
    plugin id118799
    published2018-11-07
    reporterThis script is Copyright (C) 2018-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.
    sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/118799
    titleElasticsearch ESA-2018-16
    code
    #
# (C) Tenable Network Security, Inc.
#

include("compat.inc");

if (description)
{
  script_id(118799);
  script_version("1.2");
  script_cvs_date("Date: 2019/11/01");

  script_cve_id("CVE-2018-17244");

  script_name(english:"Elasticsearch ESA-2018-16");
  script_summary(english:"Checks the version of Elasticsearch.");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"synopsis", value:
"The remote web server hosts a Java application that is vulnerable.");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"description", value:
"Elasticsearch Security versions 6.4.0 to 6.4.2 contain an error in the
way request headers are applied to requests when using the Active
Directory, LDAP, Native, or File realms. A request may receive headers
intended for another request if the same username is being
authenticated concurrently; when used with run as, this can result in
the request running as the incorrect user. This could allow a user to
access information that they should not have access to.");
  # https://www.elastic.co/community/security
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"see_also", value:"http://www.nessus.org/u?3f00797e");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"solution", value:
"Users should upgrade to Elasticsearch version 6.4.3.If upgrading is
not possible setting the realms cache.ttl option to 0 will prevent
caching any user data. This will mitigate this issue but will slow
requests considerably.");
  script_set_cvss_base_vector("CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:N/A:N");
  script_set_cvss_temporal_vector("CVSS2#E:U/RL:OF/RC:C");
  script_set_cvss3_base_vector("CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N");
  script_set_cvss3_temporal_vector("CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cvss_score_source", value:"CVE-2018-17244");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploitability_ease", value:"No known exploits are available");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"vuln_publication_date", value:"2018/11/06");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"patch_publication_date", value:"2018/11/06");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_publication_date", value:"2018/11/07");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_type", value:"remote");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/a:elasticsearch:elasticsearch");
  script_end_attributes();

  script_category(ACT_GATHER_INFO);
  script_family(english:"CGI abuses");

  script_copyright(english:"This script is Copyright (C) 2018-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.");

  script_dependencies("elasticsearch_detect.nbin");
  script_require_keys("installed_sw/Elasticsearch");
  script_require_ports("Services/www", 9200);

  exit(0);
}

include("audit.inc");
include("http.inc");
include("vcf.inc");

app = "Elasticsearch";

get_install_count(app_name:app, exit_if_zero:TRUE);

port = get_http_port(default:9200);

app_info = vcf::get_app_info(app:app, port:port, webapp:TRUE);

constraints = [
  { "min_version" : "6.4.0", "fixed_version" : "6.4.3" }
];

vcf::check_version_and_report(app_info:app_info, constraints:constraints, severity:SECURITY_WARNING);

References