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CVE-2022-23134Zabbix Frontend Improper Access Control Vulnerability

Patch nowMedium5.3Exploited, CISA due date 2022-03-08EPSS 95%, higher than 100% of scored CVEs

CVE-2022-23134 is a improper authentication in Zabbix Frontend, rated medium (5.3 on CVSS 3.1).

Why this priority: Exploited in the wild: listed in CISA's KEV catalog.

Published · Updated · NVD status: Analyzed

What it is

The software does not prove who a caller is, so an attacker can pass as someone else. Access to a resource or action is not restricted to the people meant to have it.

How it is reached

An attacker can exploit it over the network, without an account, and nobody has to click anything.

What an attacker gains

The direct impact is limited: partial access to data or a partial outage. In practice, this kind of flaw lets an attacker act as a signed-in user, or an administrator, without valid credentials.

Is it being exploited?

CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2022-02-22: it is being exploited in the wild. EPSS estimates a 95% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 100% of scored CVEs.

What to do

  1. Treat it as urgent: it is on CISA's KEV list. CISA's deadline for US federal agencies: 2022-03-08.
  2. Apply the fix for Zabbix Frontend: the patch and release notes are linked below.
  3. Until it is patched, keep it off the internet or behind a VPN, allowlist or authenticating proxy.
  4. Check exposed instances for signs of compromise, not only for the version.

Description from NVD

After the initial setup process, some steps of setup.php file are reachable not only by super-administrators, but by unauthenticated users as well. Malicious actor can pass step checks and potentially change the configuration of Zabbix Frontend.

What this means for your architecture.

A CVE names a product. Whether it matters depends on where that product sits in your systems: what reaches it, which trust boundary it guards and what it can reach once compromised. Veriom maps your components, their relationships and your trust boundaries from your code, cloud and delivery evidence, so you can see where a component like this sits. The radar itself does not look at your systems.

Components it touches

  • Operating systems on servers, workstations or devices. Everything on the host inherits the flaw.
  • Sign-in, session and token handling. The flaw sits between anonymous callers and authenticated sessions.
  • Identity providers and SSO. The flaw sits between anonymous callers and authenticated sessions.
  • Permission checks in APIs and admin surfaces. The flaw sits between one role or tenant and another.

Trust boundaries in play

  • Internet-facing entry points. No account is needed. Any instance reachable from outside your perimeter, through a load balancer, gateway, VPN or exposed admin port, is in scope.
  • Between anonymous callers and authenticated sessions. An attacker who crosses it can act as a signed-in user, or an administrator, without valid credentials.
  • Between one role or tenant and another. An attacker who crosses it can reach data or actions their role should not allow.

Questions to answer about your own systems

  • Where does Zabbix Frontend run in your systems, and at which version?
  • Which of those instances can be reached from the internet or partner networks?
  • What can it reach once compromised: which data stores, secrets and services?

Sources

  • CVE records and CVSS scores from the NVD CVE API. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
  • Exploitation status from CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
  • Exploit likelihood from FIRST’s Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), refreshed daily.
  • Explanations are written by Veriom from fixed templates over each record’s data, not by a person reviewing each CVE. Descriptions are quoted from the records as published.