Privilege escalation in HashiCorp Vault and Vault Enterprise

1) Permissions, Privileges, and Access Controls

EUVDB-ID: #VU98425

Risk: Low

CVSSv4.0: 1.2 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Clear]

CVE-ID: CVE-2024-9180

CWE-ID: CWE-264 - Permissions, Privileges, and Access Controls

Exploit availability: No

Description

The vulnerability allows a remote user to escalate privileges within the application.

The vulnerability exists due to the mishandling of entries in Vault’s in-memory entity cache. A remote privileged Vault operator can manipulate their cached entity record through the identity API endpoint on a Vault node, potentially escalating their privileges to Vault’s root policy on this node.

Mitigation

Install updates from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Vault: 1.7.8 - 1.17.6

Vault Enterprise: 1.7.8 - 1.17.6

CPE2.3

• cpe:2.3:a:hashicorp:vault:1.7.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:hashicorp:vault:1.8.12:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:hashicorp:vault:1.9.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:hashicorp:vault:1.17.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:hashicorp:vault_enterprise:1.7.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:hashicorp:vault_enterprise:1.8.12:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:hashicorp:vault_enterprise:1.9.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:hashicorp:vault_enterprise:1.17.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

External links

https://discuss.hashicorp.com/t/hcsec-2024-21-vault-operators-in-root-namespace-may-elevate-their-privileges/70565

Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote authenticated privileged user via the Internet.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.