Envision, you are controlling a digital highway that delivers content to the audiences of millions across the globe. You find it has a huge crack that can let cyber attackers slip right through. Such was the occurrence with Apache Traffic Control, the very trusted cop of the internet.
Security experts just found a dangerous security vulnerability (officially known as CVE-2024-45387) that is so serious it scored a whopping 9.9 out of 10 on the security threat scale. If you are running Apache Traffic Control versions 8.0.0 or 8.0.1 to manage your content delivery network (think of it as your internet distribution system), your entire setup could be at risk. This vulnerability basically leaves the door wide open for attackers to mess with your data, change things they should not, or even bring your whole system to a screeching halt.
The issue stems from the Traffic Ops component. Privileged users, such as those with “admin” or “steering” roles, can exploit the flaw by sending specially-crafted PUT requests to the deliveryservice_request_comments endpoint. This allows attackers to execute unauthorized SQL commands directly against the database, categorized as CWE-89: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in SQL commands.
Take an example of a delivery service that stores customer data. A malicious intruder would use that vulnerability to inject a command like DROP TABLE customers instead of a regular query. That will wipe the entire customer database and lifestyle operations. In the same way, they can escalate privileges to extend their control over the system.
The risk is particularly alarming since exploitation can occur remotely, provided the attacker has privileged access. This could lead to data theft, tampering, or even full compromise of CDN infrastructure.
The Apache Software Foundation has issued a patch in version 8.0.2 to resolve the issue. Users are urged to update immediately. For those who cannot, interim measures include restricting access to Traffic Ops, monitoring logs for unusual database activity, and ensuring input validation in custom scripts.
According to Yuan Luo of Tencent YunDing Security Lab, the recent discovery intensifies the need for proactive security. It should be put as necessary for organizations to prioritize patching to protect their Critical Distribution Networks from being exploited and mitigate the extensive implications of CVE-2024-45387.
