Critical SQL Injection Vulnerability in Apache Traffic Control — Patch Now: Here’s What to Know

A critical SQL injection vulnerability has been discovered in Apache Traffic Control, a widely used open-source platform for managing large-scale content delivery networks (CDNs). This vulnerability, identified as CVE-2024-45387, has been assigned a CVSS score of 9.9, indicating its severe impact on system confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

Details of the Vulnerability

The flaw resides in the Traffic Ops component of Apache Traffic Control versions 8.0.0 through 8.0.1. Specifically, it allows a privileged user with roles such as “admin,” “federation,” “operations,” “portal,” or “steering” to execute arbitrary SQL commands against the underlying database by sending a specially-crafted PUT request to the deliveryservice_request_comments endpoint. This improper neutralization of special elements in SQL commands is classified under CWE-89: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command (“SQL Injection”).

Potential Impact

Exploitation of this vulnerability could have devastating consequences, including unauthorized access to sensitive information stored in the database, data manipulation or deletion, escalation of privileges within the system, and full compromise of the affected infrastructure, potentially disrupting CDN operations.

The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it can be exploited remotely by users with privileged access, making it a critical issue for organizations relying on Apache Traffic Control for their CDN management.

Recommended Actions

The Apache Software Foundation has released a patch addressing this issue in version 8.0.2 of Apache Traffic Control. Users running affected versions are strongly urged to upgrade immediately to mitigate the risk of exploitation.

For those unable to update immediately, the following interim measures are recommended:

• Restrict Access: Limit access to Traffic Ops for users with affected roles.
• Monitor Logs: Keep an eye on logs for any suspicious database queries or activities.
• Input Validation: Implement input validation and parameterized queries in custom scripts interacting with Traffic Ops.
• Enforce Least Privilege: Ensure users have only the minimum roles and permissions necessary.

Contributor Acknowledgment

The vulnerability was reported by Yuan Luo from Tencent YunDing Security Lab, highlighting their ongoing contributions to cybersecurity research. Organizations using Apache Traffic Control should act swiftly to apply the available patch or implement mitigations to protect their systems from potential exploitation. Given its critical severity and potential for widespread impact, addressing CVE-2024-45387 should be a top priority for affected users.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the SQL injection vulnerability in Apache Traffic Control poses a significant risk to users with privileged access. It is crucial to upgrade to version 8.0.2 or later to mitigate this risk. Additionally, employing monitoring tools like Vulert can help in identifying and managing vulnerabilities proactively. For a thorough exploration and assistance in countering such issues, consult the Vulert Vulnerability Database.

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