CVE-2023-4822 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting Grafana, an open-source platform used for monitoring and observability. The vulnerability allows a user with Organization Admin permissions in one organization to modify the permissions of Organization Viewer, Organization Editor, and Organization Admin roles across all organizations. This capability enables an Organization Admin to elevate their own permissions or alter the permissions of other users within organizations they are members of.
The risk to organizations includes unauthorized privilege escalation, which can lead to significant security breaches if exploited. Attackers may leverage this vulnerability to gain elevated control within Grafana instances, potentially impacting the integrity and confidentiality of sensitive data.
The vulnerability was published on October 16, 2023, and has been classified with a CVSS score of 6.7, indicating a medium severity level. Organizations using affected versions of Grafana should prioritize patching immediately to mitigate potential risks.
As of now, there are known exploitation scenarios reported, highlighting the urgency for defenders to implement necessary updates.
Organizations should address this vulnerability in their priority patch cycle to maintain the integrity of their Grafana installations.
Vulnerability Details
The vulnerability allows for significant manipulation of user roles and permissions. Specifically, an Organization Admin can change permissions associated with various roles across all organizations, enabling them to control user access and functionality at a global level. This flaw is classified under CWE-269, indicating improper privilege management.
The CVSS score assigned by NVD is 7.2, indicating high severity due to the potential impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The attack vector is network-based, requiring high privileges with no user interaction needed, which simplifies exploitation for an attacker with existing admin rights.
Technical Analysis
The root cause of this vulnerability lies in the improper handling of role permissions within Grafana. The attack vector is network-based, which means an attacker can exploit this vulnerability remotely. The attack complexity is low, enabling straightforward exploitation once the attacker has admin rights.
Privilege requirements are high, as the attacker must possess Organization Admin permissions to exploit this vulnerability. User interaction is not required, which further amplifies the risk. If successfully exploited, the attacker could achieve significant impacts on confidentiality and integrity, potentially leading to unauthorized data access or modification.
Risk & Impact Analysis
Real-world deployment risk is considerable, as any existing Organization Admin can leverage this vulnerability to increase their permissions, affecting all organizations they belong to. This situation can lead to a widespread security breach, making it critical for organizations to address this vulnerability.
The blast radius potential is significant, as the vulnerability affects multiple organizations under Grafana instances. As such, the urgency for remediation is highlighted by the CVSS score of 7.2, signaling a high risk for exploitation if left unaddressed.
Exploitation Status
Signal | Status |
|---|---|
Known Exploit | Yes |
Public PoC | Yes |
Actively Exploited | No |
Ransomware Use | No |
Affected Versions
The vulnerability affects Grafana versions between 8.0.0 and 9.4.15, as well as 9.5.0 to 9.5.10, 10.0.0 to 10.0.6, and 10.1.0 to 10.1.2, including version 10.1.4.
Mitigation & Remediation
Organizations using affected versions should update to the latest version of Grafana to mitigate this vulnerability. If an immediate update is not possible, consider implementing strict role-based access controls to limit the impact of potential exploitation.
For ongoing security, organizations should also engage in continuous security testing to validate their defenses and identify any weaknesses in their systems.
For more information on penetration testing services, organizations can refer to penetration testing offerings.
Detection Guidance
To detect potential exploitation of this vulnerability, organizations should monitor for unusual role changes, unauthorized access attempts, and any unexpected permissions being assigned.
Log indicators and behavioral anomalies should be analyzed to identify any malicious activity associated with privilege escalation.
AppSecure Threat Intelligence Insight
This vulnerability highlights the need for robust permission management within multi-tenant environments like Grafana. Security teams should be aware of the potential impact of privilege escalation vulnerabilities and implement stringent access controls to mitigate risks.
Organizations are encouraged to review their configuration policies regularly and conduct thorough security assessments to identify and address vulnerabilities proactively.
For further reading on best practices in security, organizations can explore resources on penetration testing methodology and vulnerability management programs to strengthen their defenses.
Organizations should also remain vigilant and keep abreast of emerging threats to ensure their systems are adequately protected.
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
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