CVE-2023-49097: ZITADEL vulnerable account takeover via malicious host header injection
Impact
ZITADEL uses the notification triggering requests Forwarded or X-Forwarded-Host header to build the button link sent in emails for confirming a password reset with the emailed code. If this header is overwritten and a user clicks the link to a malicious site in the email, the secret code can be retrieved and used to reset the users password and take over his account.
Accounts with MFA or Passwordless enabled can not be taken over by this attack.
Patches
The patched ZITADEL versions verify, that the auth requests instance is retrieved by the requests original domain (from the Forwarded or X-Forwarded-Host headers if available). If the instance can't be found using the original host or the auth request can't be found within that instance, ZITADEL throws an error.
2.x versions are fixed on >= 2.41.6 2.40.x versions are fixed on >= 2.40.10 2.39.x versions are fixed on >= 2.39.9
The vulnerablility was introduced with 2.39.0.
Workarounds
A ZITADEL fronting proxy can be configured to delete all Forwarded and X-Forwarded-Host header values before sending requests to ZITADEL self-hosted environments.
References
None
Questions
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, please email us at security@zitadel.com
Other sources
ZITADEL is an identity infrastructure system. ZITADEL uses the notification triggering requests Forwarded or X-Forwarded-Host header to build the button link sent in emails for confirming a password reset with the emailed code. If this header is overwritten and a user clicks the link to a malicious site in the email, the secret code can be retrieved and used to reset the users password and take over his account. Accounts with MFA or Passwordless enabled can not be taken over by this attack. This issue has been patched in versions 2.41.6, 2.40.10 and 2.39.9.
Affected Software
Remediation
Event History
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CVE-2023-49097?
CVE-2023-49097 is a vulnerability that allows an attacker to overwrite the Forwarded or X-Forwarded-Host header in ZITADEL, potentially leading to a user being redirected to a malicious site.
How does CVE-2023-49097 impact ZITADEL?
CVE-2023-49097 impacts ZITADEL by using the notification triggering requests Forwarded or X-Forwarded-Host header to build the button link sent in emails for confirming a password reset. If this header is overwritten and a user clicks the link to a malicious site in the email, the secret code can be exposed.
What is the severity of CVE-2023-49097?
CVE-2023-49097 has a severity rating of high, with a score of 8.1.
Which versions of ZITADEL are affected by CVE-2023-49097?
ZITADEL versions 2.41.0 to 2.41.6, 2.40.0 to 2.40.10, and 2.39.0 to 2.39.9 are affected by CVE-2023-49097.
How do I fix CVE-2023-49097?
To fix CVE-2023-49097, update ZITADEL to version 2.41.6, 2.40.10, or 2.39.9, depending on the installed version.