CVE-2025-8868
📋 TL;DR
An authenticated attacker can exploit SQL injection in Chef Automate's compliance service to gain unauthorized access to restricted functionality. This affects Chef Automate versions earlier than 4.13.295 on Linux x86 platforms.
💻 Affected Systems
- Progress Chef Automate
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete compromise of Chef Automate compliance data, potential privilege escalation to administrative access, and data exfiltration.
Likely Case
Unauthorized access to compliance reports, configuration data, and potential manipulation of compliance policies.
If Mitigated
Limited impact due to network segmentation and proper authentication controls, but still exposes sensitive compliance data.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires authenticated access but uses well-known token technique
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 4.13.295
Vendor Advisory: https://docs.chef.io/release_notes_automate/#4.13.295
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Backup Chef Automate configuration and data. 2. Upgrade to version 4.13.295 or later using Chef Automate upgrade procedures. 3. Restart Chef Automate services. 4. Verify upgrade completion.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Network Segmentation
linuxRestrict network access to Chef Automate compliance service endpoints
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport <chef_port> -s <trusted_ips> -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport <chef_port> -j DROP
Authentication Hardening
allImplement strict authentication policies and monitor for suspicious access patterns
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict network access controls to limit who can reach Chef Automate compliance endpoints
- Enable detailed logging and monitoring for SQL injection attempts in compliance service logs
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Chef Automate version: chef-automate version | grep VersionCheck Version:
chef-automate versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify version is 4.13.295 or later: chef-automate version | grep 'Version: 4.13.295'📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual SQL queries in compliance service logs
- Multiple failed authentication attempts followed by compliance service access
- Unexpected compliance data access patterns
Network Indicators:
- Unusual traffic patterns to compliance service endpoints
- SQL injection patterns in HTTP requests
SIEM Query:
source="chef-automate" AND ("compliance" OR "sql" OR "injection")