CVE-2022-23513
Published: 23 December 2022
Summary
CVE-2022-23513 is a medium-severity Improper Access Control (CWE-284) vulnerability in Pi-Hole Adminlte. Its CVSS base score is 5.3 (Medium).
Operationally, ranked in the top 5.5% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
Deeper analysis
Pi-hole AdminLTE, the web dashboard component of the Pi-hole network-wide ad blocker, contains a broken access control vulnerability in the queryads endpoint. The flaw stems from missing input validation on the server-side script at /admin/scripts/pi-hole/php/queryads.php, which permits unauthenticated access to blocked-domain queries and thereby exposes any configured personal blacklists.
An unauthenticated remote attacker can send crafted requests directly to the affected endpoint over the network and retrieve the contents of victim blacklists without authentication or user interaction. The issue carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 5.3 and maps to CWE-284.
Public advisories and the Pi-hole GitHub security advisory GHSA-6qh8-6rrj-7497 indicate that the issue is resolved in AdminLTE release v5.18; administrators are advised to update to that version. The associated EPSS score has remained flat at 0.1392 with no material increase since disclosure.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2022-28554
Vulnerability details
Pi-Hole is a network-wide ad blocking via your own Linux hardware, AdminLTE is a Pi-hole Dashboard for stats and more. In case of an attack, the threat actor will obtain the ability to perform an unauthorized query for blocked domains…
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on `queryads` endpoint. In the case of application, this vulnerability exists because of a lack of validation in code on a root server path: `/admin/scripts/pi-hole/phpqueryads.php.` Potential threat actor(s) are able to perform an unauthorized query search in blocked domain lists. This could lead to the disclosure for any victims' personal blacklists.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Likely Mitigating Controls AI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
The access control policy and procedures directly mandate and enforce proper access control mechanisms across the organization.
Device lock enforces restricted access until re-authentication, directly reducing unauthorized use of active sessions.
Supervision and review of access control activities directly detects and remediates improper access configurations or usages.
Explicitly identifying and documenting actions permitted without identification or authentication enforces proper access control boundaries by defining justified exceptions.
By automatically labeling outputs with security attributes, the control supports attribute-based enforcement and reduces exploitability of improper access control weaknesses.
Associating and retaining security attributes with data directly supports enforcement of access control decisions across storage, processing, and transmission.
Requiring prior authorization for each remote access type prevents improper access control over remote connections.
Requiring authorization of wireless access before allowing connections enforces proper access control for this access method.