Ethical Hacking News
A high-severity flaw in PostgreSQL allows hackers to exploit environment variables, potentially leading to code execution or information disclosure. This vulnerability has been addressed in recent updates to the software, but organizations must take steps to mitigate its impact and prevent exploitation by hackers.
A high-severity security flaw was discovered in PostgreSQL, a popular open-source database system.The vulnerability, CVE-2024-10979, has a Critical Vulnerability and Exposure (CVSS) score of 8.8, indicating it poses an extremely significant risk.Incorrect control of environment variables allows an unprivileged user to change sensitive process environment variables, potentially enabling arbitrary code execution.The impact of the vulnerability is severe, and it has been addressed in PostgreSQL versions 17.1, 16.5, 15.9, 14.14, 13.17, and 12.21.Organizations can mitigate this vulnerability by restricting allowed extensions, limiting roles from creating functions, setting shared_preload_libraries configuration parameter, and implementing robust security protocols.The discovery highlights the importance of regularly updating and patching software to prevent exploitation by hackers.
In a recent development that has sent shockwaves through the cybersecurity community, researchers have disclosed a high-severity security flaw in the PostgreSQL open-source database system. This vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-10979, carries a Critical Vulnerability and Exposure (CVSS) score of 8.8, indicating that it poses an extremely significant risk to organizations that use this popular database management software.
The vulnerability was discovered by Varonis researchers Tal Peleg and Coby Abrams, who revealed that incorrect control of environment variables in PostgreSQL PL/Perl allows an unprivileged database user to change sensitive process environment variables. This, in turn, can enable arbitrary code execution, even if the attacker lacks a database server operating system user.
Environment variables are user-defined values that can allow a program to dynamically fetch various kinds of information, such as access keys and software installation paths, during runtime without having to hard-code them. In certain operating systems, they are initialized during the startup phase. This means that if an attacker is able to manipulate these environment variables, they could potentially gain unauthorized access to sensitive data or execute malicious code.
The impact of this vulnerability cannot be overstated. It has been addressed in PostgreSQL versions 17.1, 16.5, 15.9, 14.14, 13.17, and 12.21. However, users are advised to restrict allowed extensions and limit roles from creating functions per the principle of least privileges by restricting the CREATE FUNCTION permission.
To mitigate this vulnerability, organizations can take several steps. For example, they can limit the creation of extensions by granting only specific extensions to certain roles or users. Additionally, setting the shared_preload_libraries configuration parameter to load only required extensions can help prevent malicious code from being executed.
It is worth noting that the vulnerability does not appear to be remotely exploitable, and attackers would likely need physical access to the server in order to exploit it. However, this does not diminish the severity of the issue, as an attacker with access to a compromised database server could still potentially use this vulnerability to gain unauthorized access to sensitive data or execute malicious code.
The discovery of this vulnerability serves as a stark reminder of the importance of regularly updating and patching software to prevent exploitation by hackers. Organizations that fail to do so put themselves at risk of falling victim to cyber attacks, which can have devastating consequences for their reputation and bottom line.
Furthermore, the fact that this vulnerability was not immediately discovered highlights the ongoing challenges faced by cybersecurity professionals in keeping pace with the rapidly evolving landscape of software vulnerabilities. It underscores the need for robust security protocols and continuous monitoring to detect and respond to potential threats before they can cause harm.
In conclusion, the high-severity flaw in PostgreSQL that allows hackers to exploit environment variables is a serious issue that warrants immediate attention from organizations that use this popular database management software. By taking proactive steps to mitigate this vulnerability, including updating to the latest versions of PostgreSQL and implementing robust security protocols, organizations can significantly reduce their risk of falling victim to cyber attacks.
Related Information:
https://thehackernews.com/2024/11/high-severity-flaw-in-postgresql-allows.html
https://github.com/advisories/ghsa-2r9h-x757-8j9q
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-10979
https://www.cvedetails.com/cve/CVE-2024-10979/
Published: Fri Nov 15 02:01:27 2024 by llama3.2 3B Q4_K_M
