CVE-2023-29193
Published: 14 April 2023
Summary
CVE-2023-29193 is a high-severity Generation of Error Message Containing Sensitive Information (CWE-209) vulnerability in Authzed Spicedb. Its CVSS base score is 8.7 (High).
Operationally, ranked in the top 41.1% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-1271
Vulnerability details
SpiceDB is an open source, Google Zanzibar-inspired, database system for creating and managing security-critical application permissions. The `spicedb serve` command contains a flag named `--grpc-preshared-key` which is used to protect the gRPC API from being accessed by unauthorized requests. The…
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values of this flag are to be considered sensitive, secret data. The `/debug/pprof/cmdline` endpoint served by the metrics service (defaulting running on port `9090`) reveals the command-line flags provided for debugging purposes. If a password is set via the `--grpc-preshared-key` then the key is revealed by this endpoint along with any other flags provided to the SpiceDB binary. This issue has been fixed in version 1.19.1. ### Impact All deployments abiding by the recommended best practices for production usage are **NOT affected**: - Authzed's SpiceDB Serverless - Authzed's SpiceDB Dedicated - SpiceDB Operator Users configuring SpiceDB via environment variables are **NOT affected**. Users **MAY be affected** if they expose their metrics port to an untrusted network and are configuring `--grpc-preshared-key` via command-line flag. ### Patches TODO ### Workarounds To workaround this issue you can do one of the following: - Configure the preshared key via an environment variable (e.g. `SPICEDB_GRPC_PRESHARED_KEY=yoursecret spicedb serve`) - Reconfigure the `--metrics-addr` flag to bind to a trusted network (e.g. `--metrics-addr=localhost:9090`) - Disable the metrics service via the flag (e.g. `--metrics-enabled=false`) - Adopt one of the recommended deployment models: [Authzed's managed services](https://authzed.com/pricing) or the [SpiceDB Operator](https://github.com/authzed/spicedb-operator) ### References - [GitHub Security Advisory issued for SpiceDB](https://github.com/authzed/spicedb/security/advisories/GHSA-cjr9-mr35-7xh6) - [Go issue #22085](https://github.com/golang/go/issues/22085) for documenting the risks of exposing pprof to the internet - [Go issue #42834](https://github.com/golang/go/issues/42834) discusses preventing pprof registration to the default serve mux - [semgrep rule go.lang.security.audit.net.pprof.pprof-debug-exposure](https://semgrep.dev/r?q=go.lang.security.audit.net.pprof) checks for a variation of this issue ### Credit We'd like to thank Amit Laish, a security researcher at GE Vernova for responsibly disclosing this vulnerability.
- 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.
Detects error messages that leak sensitive information as evidence of disclosure.
The control directly mitigates generation of error messages containing sensitive authentication details by requiring obscured feedback instead of verbose responses.
Misdirection allows generation of misleading error messages that withhold or falsify sensitive details.
Explicitly requires error messages to avoid including sensitive or exploitable details while still supporting corrective action.
Validation ensures error messages contain only expected, non-sensitive content and blocks leakage via verbose errors.
Fail-safe procedures can be defined to suppress or sanitize error output, reducing generation of messages that contain sensitive information.