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Privilege escalation: all users can access Admin-level API keys

Moderate severity GitHub Reviewed Published Jul 20, 2021 in TryGhost/Ghost • Updated Feb 1, 2023

Package

npm ghost (npm)

Affected versions

>= 4.0.0, < 4.10.0

Patched versions

4.10.0

Description

Impact

An error in the implementation of the limits service in 4.0.0 allows all authenticated users (including contributors) to view admin-level API keys via the integrations API endpoint, leading to a privilege escalation vulnerability.

Ghost(Pro) has already been patched. Self-hosters are impacted if running Ghost a version between 4.0.0 and 4.9.4. Immediate action should be taken to secure your site - see patches & workarounds below.

It is highly recommended to regenerate all API keys after patching or applying the workaround below.

Patches

Fixed in 4.10.0, all 4.x sites should upgrade as soon as possible.

Workarounds

  • Disable all non-Administrator accounts to prevent API access.

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:

Credits: Aden Yap Chuen Zhen, BAE Systems Applied Intelligence (Malaysia)

References

@matthanley matthanley published to TryGhost/Ghost Jul 20, 2021
Reviewed Jul 20, 2021
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Jul 22, 2021
Published by the National Vulnerability Database Sep 3, 2021
Last updated Feb 1, 2023

Severity

Moderate

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

EPSS score

0.123%
(48th percentile)

Weaknesses

CVE ID

CVE-2021-39192

GHSA ID

GHSA-j5c2-hm46-wp5c

Source code

Credits

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