CVE-2019-19029 – This SQL injection vulnerability in Harbor cont... (How to Fix)

Q: What is the severity of CVE-2019-19029?

CVE-2019-19029 has a CVSS score of 7.2 (HIGH). This SQL injection vulnerability in Harbor container registry allows attackers to execute arbitrary SQL commands via user-groups functionality. It affects Harbor deployments prior to versions 1.8.6 and 1.9.3, potentially compromising database integrity and confidentiality.

📋 TL;DR

This SQL injection vulnerability in Harbor container registry allows attackers to execute arbitrary SQL commands via user-groups functionality. It affects Harbor deployments prior to versions 1.8.6 and 1.9.3, potentially compromising database integrity and confidentiality.

💻 Affected Systems

Products:

Cloud Native Computing Foundation Harbor
VMware Harbor Container Registry for Pivotal Platform

Versions: Harbor versions prior to 1.8.6 and 1.9.3

Operating Systems: All platforms running Harbor

Default Config Vulnerable: ⚠️ Yes

Notes: All deployments with vulnerable versions are affected regardless of configuration

📦 What is this software?

⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact

🔴

Worst Case

Complete database compromise allowing data exfiltration, privilege escalation, or data destruction

🟠

Likely Case

Unauthorized data access, privilege escalation, or data manipulation

🟢

If Mitigated

Limited impact due to proper input validation and database permissions

🌐 Internet-Facing: HIGH - Internet-facing Harbor instances are directly exploitable

🏢 Internal Only: MEDIUM - Internal instances still vulnerable but require network access

🎯 Exploit Status

Public PoC: ⚠️ Yes

Weaponized: LIKELY

Unauthenticated Exploit: ✅ No

Complexity: LOW

Exploitation requires authentication but SQL injection is well-understood and weaponization is likely

🛠️ Fix & Mitigation

✅ Official Fix

Patch Version: Harbor 1.8.6 or 1.9.3

Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/security/advisories/GHSA-qcfv-8v29-469w

Restart Required: Yes

Instructions:

1. Backup Harbor configuration and database. 2. Upgrade to Harbor 1.8.6 or 1.9.3. 3. Restart Harbor services. 4. Verify upgrade completion.

🔧 Temporary Workarounds

Input Validation Enhancement

all

Implement additional input validation for user-groups parameters

Not applicable - requires code changes

Database Permission Restriction

linux

Restrict database user permissions to minimum required

ALTER USER harbor_user WITH NOSUPERUSER NOCREATEDB NOCREATEROLE;

🧯 If You Can't Patch

Implement WAF rules to block SQL injection patterns
Restrict network access to Harbor instances and monitor for suspicious database queries

🔍 How to Verify

Check if Vulnerable:

Check Harbor version via web UI or configuration files

Check Version:

docker exec harbor-core cat /harbor/VERSION

Verify Fix Applied:

Confirm version is 1.8.6 or higher (for 1.8.x) or 1.9.3 or higher (for 1.9.x)

📡 Detection & Monitoring

Log Indicators:

Unusual SQL queries in database logs
Failed authentication attempts followed by SQL errors

Network Indicators:

Unusual database connections from Harbor application
SQL error messages in HTTP responses

SIEM Query:

source="harbor" AND ("SQL" OR "syntax" OR "injection")

📊 Metadata

CVE ID: CVE-2019-19029

CVSS v3 Score: 7.2 (HIGH)

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CWE: CWE-89

Published: March 20, 2020

Last Updated: November 21, 2024

🔗 References

https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/security/advisories Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/security/advisories/GHSA-qcfv-8v29-469w Third Party Advisory
https://tanzu.vmware.com/security/cve-2019-19029 Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/security/advisories Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/security/advisories/GHSA-qcfv-8v29-469w Third Party Advisory
https://tanzu.vmware.com/security/cve-2019-19029 Third Party Advisory

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🔗 Related Vulnerabilities

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