Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-41107

Auth Bypass in Apache Cloudstack 4.5.0 – 4.18.2.2

Published
19 July 2024
Modified
19 March 2025
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 8.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.18 97th percentile
Risk Priority 86 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2024-41107 is a high-severity Authentication Bypass by Spoofing (CWE-290) vulnerability in Apache Cloudstack. Its CVSS base score is 8.1 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Adversary-in-the-Middle (T1557); ranked in the top 3% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to IA-2 (Identification and Authentication (Organizational Users)) and IA-3 (Device Identification and Authentication) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

The vulnerability affects Apache CloudStack's SAML authentication plugin, which is disabled by default. When enabled, the plugin fails to enforce signature validation on SAML responses, allowing spoofed assertions to be accepted without cryptographic verification (CWE-290). This impacts any CloudStack deployment that has explicitly enabled SAML single sign-on for user authentication.

An attacker who can reach the CloudStack SAML endpoint can initiate an authentication flow and submit a crafted, unsigned SAML response containing a guessed or known username and associated attributes. Successful exploitation grants the attacker a valid session for the targeted account, resulting in full access to all resources and privileges associated with that SAML-enabled user. The attack requires no prior credentials and is rated CVSS 8.1 due to its network-accessible nature and high impact.

Advisories from the Apache CloudStack project and related oss-security postings recommend immediately setting the global configuration parameter "saml2.enabled" to false if SAML is not required, or upgrading to CloudStack 4.18.2.2, 4.19.1.0, or later releases that restore proper signature checking. The referenced GitHub issue and mailing-list threads contain the coordinated disclosure details and patch information.

The EPSS score has remained consistently high (current 0.92, peak 0.93) since publication, indicating sustained exploitation interest without evidence of a sharp post-disclosure climb from a low baseline.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

The CloudStack SAML authentication (disabled by default) does not enforce signature check. In CloudStack environments where SAML authentication is enabled, an attacker that initiates CloudStack SAML single sign-on authentication can bypass SAML authentication by submitting a spoofed SAML response with…

more

no signature and known or guessed username and other user details of a SAML-enabled CloudStack user-account. In such environments, this can result in a complete compromise of the resources owned and/or accessible by a SAML enabled user-account. Affected users are recommended to disable the SAML authentication plugin by setting the "saml2.enabled" global setting to "false", or upgrade to version 4.18.2.2, 4.19.1.0 or later, which addresses this issue.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1557 Adversary-in-the-Middle Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to position themselves between two or more networked devices using an adversary-in-the-middle (AiTM) technique to support follow-on behaviors such as [Network Sniffing](https://attack.
T1557.001 Name Resolution Poisoning and SMB Relay Credential Access
By responding to LLMNR/NBT-NS/mDNS network traffic, adversaries may spoof an authoritative source for name resolution to force communication with an adversary controlled system.
T1036 Masquerading Stealth
Adversaries may attempt to manipulate features of their artifacts to make them appear legitimate or benign to users and/or security tools.
T1036.001 Invalid Code Signature Stealth
Adversaries may attempt to mimic features of valid code signatures to increase the chance of deceiving a user, analyst, or tool.
T1134 Access Token Manipulation Stealth
Adversaries may modify access tokens to operate under a different user or system security context to perform actions and bypass access controls.
T1134.001 Token Impersonation/Theft Stealth
Adversaries may duplicate then impersonate another user's existing token to escalate privileges and bypass access controls.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-29006Same product: Apache Cloudstack
CVE-2024-29008Same product: Apache Cloudstack
CVE-2024-50386Same product: Apache Cloudstack
CVE-2024-45462Same product: Apache Cloudstack
CVE-2024-45219Same product: Apache Cloudstack
CVE-2025-47713Same product: Apache Cloudstack
CVE-2025-47849Same product: Apache Cloudstack
CVE-2025-22829Same product: Apache Cloudstack
CVE-2025-30675Same product: Apache Cloudstack
CVE-2024-42222Same product: Apache Cloudstack

Affected Assets

apache
cloudstack
4.5.0 — 4.18.2.2 · 4.19.0.0 — 4.19.1.0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 3 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V6.4.3
  • V10.4.16
  • V10.5.1
  • V11.4.3

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Proper unique identification and authentication of users directly stops spoofing-based bypass of authentication.

Device identification and authentication before connection prevents spoofing of devices to bypass auth.

Authentication of non-organizational users blocks external spoofing attempts against the scheme.

Authenticator management ensures credentials cannot be easily spoofed or reused to bypass authentication.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.AA-04 full match
prevents

Protecting, conveying, and verifying identity assertions specifically prevents the spoofing that enables authentication bypass.

PR.AA-03 mostly match
prevents

Requiring authentication of users/services/hardware directly counters spoofing-based bypass when strong methods are used.

PR.AA-02 partial match
prevents

Proofing and binding identities reduces spoofing opportunities during enrollment but does not address runtime authentication implementation flaws.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

degrades

Secure authentication control directly mitigates authentication bypass by spoofing.

degrades

Authentication information management directly addresses credential handling that prevents spoofing.

finds

Security testing can detect spoofing vulnerabilities but does not prevent them by itself.

prevents

Access control policy reduces spoofing opportunities but does not prescribe authentication mechanisms.

prevents

Identity management supports unique identities but does not guarantee resistance to spoofing.

prevents

Access rights assignment limits exposure but does not enforce authentication strength.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
  • V-248827 OL 8 must not have the rsh-server package installed. prevents CWE-290
RHEL 7 (1 rule)
  • V-204442 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must not have the rsh-server package installed. prevents CWE-290
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
  • V-230492 RHEL 8 must not have the rsh-server package installed. prevents CWE-290

References