A critical security issue, designated as CVE-2023-5455, has been discovered in all supported versions of the Identity, Policy, and Audit (IPA) system. This vulnerability is a cross-site request forgery (CSRF) and affects the ipa/session/login_password component, posing a serious threat to the confidentiality and integrity of the system.

Upon exploiting this vulnerability, an attacker can trick a user into submitting a request that appears as if it came from the user themselves. As a result, the attacker can potentially gain access to sensitive information or perform unauthorize actions on the system, affecting both its confidentiality and system integrity.

Code Snippet - How the Vulnerability Works

The vulnerability exists due to insufficient protection of the HTTP end-points by FreeIPA, and particularly, the ipa/session/login_password component. An example of how this CSRF flaw may be exploited can be seen in the following code snippet:

<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html>
<head>
    <title>Malicious CSRF Exploit</title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>Click to claim your prize!</h1>
    <form action="https://target-ipa-server.example.com/ipa/session/login_password"; method="POST">
        <input type="hidden" name="username" value="user" />
        <input type="hidden" name="password" value="P@$$wrd" />
        <input type="submit" value="Claim" />
    </form>
</body>
</html>

In this example, an attacker creates a malicious webpage that tricks a user into clicking a button to claim a prize. When the user clicks the button, the form containing their hidden username and password is submitted to the target IPA server, exploiting the vulnerability and potentially granting the attacker unauthorized access.

Original References

The vulnerability was initially discovered during community penetration testing. More information about the vulnerability can be found in the original references:

1. CVE-2023-5455 Mitre Record
2. Security Advisory for CVE-2023-5455
3. Discussion on the FreeIPA mailing list

Exploit Details

To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker simply needs to create a malicious webpage or a link, like the one shown in the code snippet above. The attacker needs to lure the target user into accessing the webpage or clicking the link, thus submitting a request to the vulnerable IPA server with their own credentials. Consequently, this may grant the attacker unauthorized access or allow them to perform actions as the user.

It is essential to note that due to the implementation details, this CSRF flaw cannot be used for reflecting a cookie of an already logged-in user. An attacker would always have to go through a new authentication attempt.

Conclusion

This CSRF vulnerability (CVE-2023-5455) is a serious security flaw that impacts the confidentiality and system integrity of all supported versions of IPA. Users and administrators are therefore urged to remain cautious when clicking on unfamiliar links or visiting unknown websites. IPA developers should address this issue immediately and implement the necessary security measures to protect their systems against potential attacks.

Timeline

Published on: 01/10/2024 13:15:48 UTC
Last modified on: 02/20/2024 19:05:40 UTC