CVE-2021-46561
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability allows organizational administrators in CVE Services API to transfer user accounts to arbitrary organizations, granting unintended access within those new organizations. It affects CVE Services API versions before the fix commit 5c50baf3bda28133a3bc90b854765a64fb538304. Organizational administrators with account transfer privileges are the primary threat actors.
💻 Affected Systems
- CVE Services API
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
An organizational administrator could transfer privileged accounts to organizations they control, gaining unauthorized access to sensitive CVE data, manipulating vulnerability records, or disrupting CVE assignment workflows across multiple organizations.
Likely Case
An organizational administrator transfers user accounts to gain additional privileges or access within other organizations, potentially viewing or modifying CVE records they shouldn't have access to.
If Mitigated
With proper access controls and monitoring, impact is limited to unauthorized account transfers that can be detected and reversed before significant damage occurs.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires authenticated organizational administrator access. The vulnerability is in the account transfer functionality.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Fixed in commit 5c50baf3bda28133a3bc90b854765a64fb538304
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/CVEProject/cve-services/commit/5c50baf3bda28133a3bc90b854765a64fb538304
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Update to CVE Services API version with commit 5c50baf3bda28133a3bc90b854765a64fb538304 or later. 2. Restart the CVE Services API service. 3. Verify the fix by checking that the org.controller.js file contains the security patch.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Restrict Organizational Administrator Privileges
allTemporarily remove or restrict account transfer capabilities from organizational administrators until patching is complete.
# Review and modify role-based access controls for organizational administrators
# Disable account transfer functionality in configuration if possible
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict monitoring of account transfer activities and audit logs for suspicious transfers between organizations.
- Apply principle of least privilege by reviewing and reducing organizational administrator permissions to only essential functions.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check if your CVE Services API version is before commit 5c50baf3bda28133a3bc90b854765a64fb538304 by examining the git commit history or version metadata.Check Version:
git log --oneline | grep -i '5c50baf3bda28133a3bc90b854765a64fb538304'Verify Fix Applied:
Verify the org.controller.js file contains the security fixes from commit 5c50baf3bda28133a3bc90b854765a64fb538304 by checking the file hash or reviewing the code changes.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual account transfer events between different organizations
- Multiple account transfers initiated by the same organizational administrator in short timeframes
- Account transfers to organizations outside normal business relationships
Network Indicators:
- API calls to account transfer endpoints with unusual parameters or target organizations
SIEM Query:
source="cve-services" AND (event_type="account_transfer" OR api_endpoint="/org/transfer") AND target_org NOT IN ["expected_org1", "expected_org2"]