Sunday, October 13, 2024

Experts disclose details of Apache Cassandra RCE

Researchers disclose a now-patched remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability in the Apache Cassandra database software.

JFrog researchers publicly disclosed details of a now-patched high-severity security vulnerability (CVE-2021-44521) in Apache Cassandra database software that could be exploited by remote attackers to achieve code execution on affected installations.

Apache Cassandra is an open-source NoSQL distributed database used by thousands of companies.

“JFrog’s Security Research team recently disclosed an RCE (remote code execution) issue in Apache Cassandra, which has been assigned to CVE-2021-44521 (CVSS 8.4).” reads the analsyis published by JFrog. “This Apache security vulnerability is easy to exploit and has the potential to wreak havoc on systems, but luckily only manifests in non-default configurations of Cassandra.”

Cassandra offers the functionality of creating user-defined-functions (UDFs) that allow to perform custom processing of data in the database.

Admins can use Java and JavaScript to write UDFs. In JavaScript it leverages the Nashorn engine in the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) which is not guaranteed to be secure when accepting untrusted code

JFrog researchers that discovered that when the configuration for user-defined functions (UDFs) are enabled, threat actors could leverage the Nashorn engine to escape the sandbox and achieve remote code execution.

“For example, running the following Nashorn JavaScript code allows execution of an arbitrary shell command –

java.lang.Runtime.getRuntime().exec("touch hacked")

Cassandra’s development team decided to implement a custom sandbox around the UDF execution which uses two mechanisms to restrict the UDF code” states the report.

Experts noticed that the exploitation is possible when the cassandra.yaml configuration file contains the following definitions:

  • enable_user_defined_functions: true
  • enable_scripted_user_defined_functions: true
  • enable_user_defined_functions_threads: false
Recommended:  Chinese-Origin Hackers Breach US Government Systems

“When the option is set to false, all invoked UDF functions run in the Cassandra daemon thread, which has a security manager with some permissions. We will show how to abuse these permissions to achieve sandbox escape and RCE.” continues the analysis.

Experts shared a PoC to create a new file named “hacked” on the Cassandra server

Apache released versions 3.0.263.11.12, and 4.0.2 to address the vulnerability, it adds a new flag “allow_extra_insecure_udfs” that’s set to false by default, it prevents turning off the security manager and blocks access to java.lang.System..

You may also enjoy reading, CVEs You May Have Missed While Log4J Stole The Headlines

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Steven Black (n0tst3)
Hello! I'm Steve, an independent security researcher, and analyst from Scotland, UK. I've had an avid interest in Computers, Technology and Security since my early teens. 20 years on, and, it's a whole lot more complicated... I've assisted Governments, Individuals and Organizations throughout the world. Including; US DOJ, NHS UK, GOV UK. I'll often reblog infosec-related articles that I find interesting. On the RiSec website, You'll also find a variety of write-ups, tutorials and much more!

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