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GHSA-8vg2-wf3q-mwv7

MediumCVSS 4.2 / 10
Published Mar 23, 2023·Last modified Nov 8, 2023
Affected Components(0)

No affected components available

Description

Summary

CWE-532: Insertion of Sensitive Information into Log File discovered in v9.23.1. The directus_refresh_token is not redacted properly from the log outputs and can be used to impersonate users without their permission.

Details

Using v9.23.1, I am seeing that the directus_refresh_token is not properly redacted as indicated by https://github.com/directus/directus/blob/7c479c5161639aac466c763b6b958a9524201d74/api/src/logger.ts#L13

I'm classifying this as a security vulnerability because if someone has access to the log outputs, for example with a shared Cloud account or Splunk implementation, they could exchange the refresh token using /auth/refresh for an access token and use the token to perform actions on behalf of an unsuspecting user. This situation creates issues with accountability and non-repudiation because we can no longer have confidence that actions taken in the application were authorized or even performed by the logged-in user.

A couple of examples of this are:

  • A disgruntled employee deletes all of the data to get even with a target team member before logging off on their last day
  • Under the guise of their unsuspecting boss, a mischievous engineer uploads questionable images that get displayed on internal or external facing content sites

The list could go on but I think these communicate the risk of an internal threat that has access to this information 😆

PoC

  1. Set LOG_STYLE="raw" and run Directus v9.23.1

  2. Log in to the application

  3. Look at the shell output and see that directus_refresh_token is logged

    Note: This is different from the standard raw output format. I intentionally ran this with npx directus start | pino-pretty so logs would be easier to read. It can also be reproduced by running npx directus start alone.

    image

  4. Exchange the directus_refresh_token for an access_token

     curl -X POST \
   'http://0.0.0.0:8055/auth/refresh' \
   --header 'Accept: */*' \
   --header 'Cookie: directus_refresh_token=$shh'

Impact

Because this can be used to exploit other threats related to CWE-284: Improper Access Control I rank it with a Moderate severity. An insider with knowledge of this could do many mischievous things and get away with them for a long time without victims knowing about it.

Risk Scores
Base Score
4.2

The vulnerability requires local access to the device to be exploited. It is easy for an attacker to exploit this vulnerability. An attacker needs high-level or administrative privileges. The attacker needs the user to perform some action, like clicking a link. The impact is confined to the system where the vulnerability exists. There is a high impact on the confidentiality of the information.

Threat Intelligence
3.9

Limited exploitation activity has been observed. Close monitoring and planned remediation are recommended.

EPSS
0.31%

The exploit probability is very low. The vulnerability is unlikely to be exploited in the next 30 days.

Exploit
Not available

We did not find any exploit available. Neither in GitHub repositories nor in the Exploit-Database.

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Medium severity
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