CVE-2024-45489
Published: 20 September 2024
Summary
CVE-2024-45489 is a critical-severity Improper Access Control (CWE-284) vulnerability in Arc (inferred from references). Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).
Operationally, ranked in the top 7.8% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
Deeper analysis
Arc before the August 26, 2024 update contained an improper access control flaw (CWE-284) in its handling of JavaScript boosts. Although such boosts were not intended to be shared, misconfigured Firebase ACLs permitted an attacker to create or modify a boost while specifying an arbitrary user identifier, causing the malicious boost to be installed and executed in the target user's browser.
An unauthenticated remote attacker could therefore achieve arbitrary JavaScript execution inside the victim's Arc browser running in a privileged context, resulting in full confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact as reflected by the CVSS 9.8 score. Exploitation requires only the ability to interact with the Arc cloud service and does not depend on user interaction or special privileges.
Public advisories from Arc and independent researchers describe the issue as a no-action cloud vulnerability that affected zero users; the root-cause Firebase ACL misconfiguration was corrected server-side prior to disclosure, eliminating any need for client-side patches or user intervention. The associated EPSS score remained low with only minor fluctuation between its peak of 0.0844 and current value of 0.0788.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2024-41508
Vulnerability details
Arc before 2024-08-26 allows remote code execution in JavaScript boosts. Boosts that run JavaScript cannot be shared by default; however (because of misconfigured Firebase ACLs), it is possible to create or update a boost using another user's ID. This installs…
more
the boost in the victim's browser and runs arbitrary Javascript on that browser in a privileged context. NOTE: this is a no-action cloud vulnerability with zero affected users.
- 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.