CVE-2024-40442
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability in Doccano's annotation tools allows remote attackers to escalate privileges through crafted REST requests. It affects Doccano v1.8.4 and Auto Labeling Pipeline v0.1.23, potentially enabling unauthorized access to administrative functions.
💻 Affected Systems
- Doccano
- Doccano Auto Labeling Pipeline
⚠️ Manual Verification Required
This CVE does not have specific version information in our database, so automatic vulnerability detection cannot determine if your system is affected.
Why? The CVE database entry doesn't specify which versions are vulnerable (no version ranges provided by the vendor/NVD).
🔒 Custom verification scripts are available for registered users. Sign up free to download automated test scripts.
- Review the CVE details at NVD
- Check vendor security advisories for your specific version
- Test if the vulnerability is exploitable in your environment
- Consider updating to the latest version as a precaution
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Full system compromise where attacker gains administrative control, accesses sensitive annotation data, and potentially executes arbitrary code on the server.
Likely Case
Unauthorized privilege escalation allowing attackers to modify annotation projects, access confidential data, or disrupt machine learning workflows.
If Mitigated
Limited impact with proper network segmentation, strong authentication, and monitoring in place to detect privilege escalation attempts.
🎯 Exploit Status
Crafting REST requests requires minimal technical skill. Public references suggest exploitation details are available.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Doccano > v1.8.4, Auto Labeling Pipeline > v0.1.23
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/doccano/doccano/releases/tag/v1.8.4
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Update Doccano to latest version > v1.8.4. 2. Update Auto Labeling Pipeline to latest version > v0.1.23. 3. Restart all Doccano services. 4. Verify no custom REST endpoints remain vulnerable.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Network Access Restriction
linuxRestrict network access to Doccano instances to trusted IPs only
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 8000 -s trusted_ip_range -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 8000 -j DROP
Web Application Firewall Rules
allImplement WAF rules to block suspicious REST requests
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict network segmentation to isolate Doccano instances from sensitive systems
- Enable detailed logging and monitoring for privilege escalation attempts and unusual REST API calls
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Doccano version via web interface or by examining package version: pip show doccanoCheck Version:
pip show doccano | grep Version && pip show doccano-auto-labeling-pipeline | grep VersionVerify Fix Applied:
Confirm version is > v1.8.4 for Doccano and > v0.1.23 for Auto Labeling Pipeline, then test REST endpoints for privilege escalation📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual privilege changes in user logs
- REST requests to administrative endpoints from non-admin users
- Failed authentication followed by successful privileged actions
Network Indicators:
- Unusual REST API patterns
- Requests to privilege escalation endpoints
- Traffic from unexpected sources to Doccano ports
SIEM Query:
source="doccano.log" AND (event="privilege_change" OR event="admin_access" OR http_method="POST" AND uri="/api/admin/*")