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Authelia's Group Changes may not have the expected results (YAML file backend)

Low severity GitHub Reviewed Published Apr 20, 2024 in authelia/authelia • Updated Apr 22, 2024

Package

gomod github.com/authelia/authelia/v4 (Go)

Affected versions

>= 4.37.0, < 4.38.0

Patched versions

4.38.0

Description

Impact

Under very specific conditions changes to a users groups may not have the expected results.

The specific conditions are:

  • The file authentication backend is being used.
  • The watch option is set to true.
  • The refresh_interval is configured to a non-disabled value.
  • The users groups are adjusted by an administrator.
  • The user attempts to access a resource that their groups previously had access to but their new groups do not have access to.

When these conditions are met administrators may find the changes are not taken into account by access control for longer than expected periods. While this may not necessarily be a security vulnerability it's security-adjacent and because of the unexpected nature of it and our dedication to a security-first culture we feel it's important to make users aware of this behaviour utilizing a security advisory and the existence of a fix.

This:

  • Can not have an Impact for Unauthenticated Users.
  • Can not have an Impact for Configurations utilizing the LDAP Backend.
  • Can not be directly or indirectly caused by a users or third parties actions.

Patches

This behaviour was identified after it was inadvertently fixed in the master branch during the multi-cookie domain rework (i.e. between feature releases). A patch for prior versions can be provided upon request. The fix was to ensure the details are updated regardless of backend, it was a small oversight in previous functionality which made refreshing ineffectual prior to v4.37.0.

Workarounds

Ensure you restart between user database changes.

References

References

@james-d-elliott james-d-elliott published to authelia/authelia Apr 20, 2024
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Apr 22, 2024
Reviewed Apr 22, 2024
Last updated Apr 22, 2024

Severity

Low

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
Physical
Attack complexity
High
Privileges required
High
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
None
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:P/AC:H/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N

Weaknesses

CVE ID

No known CVE

GHSA ID

GHSA-x883-2vmg-xwf7

Source code

Credits

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