Horizon Alert
Summary of the vulnerability and why it matters
An authenticated attacker can impersonate other users, including administrators, by manipulating a custom header in requests. This allows a low-privilege user to potentially gain full administrative control over the affected system.
- Attackers can impersonate users via custom request headers.
- Leadership should remember this if user impersonation is a concern.
- Confirm if this system is used and who has low-privilege access.
Attack Path
How an attacker could exploit the issue
An attacker with existing low-privilege access can impersonate other users, including administrators, by manipulating a specific custom header. This manipulation allows them to send requests that appear to originate from a different user, potentially granting them elevated privileges and enabling account takeover. The vulnerability lies in the product's handling of user identity verification when specific metadata is provided.
- Requires authenticated access.
- Triggers by sending a custom header.
- Risk of account takeover and privilege escalation.
Live Threat
Current exploitation, exposure, and threat context
An authenticated attacker could impersonate other users, including administrators, by manipulating a custom header. This could allow a lower-privileged user to gain elevated access and potentially control the system.
- User identities and administrative control.
- Spoofing user identity via custom header.
- Account takeover and system compromise.
Operational Fix
Recommended remediation, mitigation, and detection steps
This critical vulnerability, which allows an authenticated attacker to impersonate other users and potentially gain administrative privileges, requires immediate attention from teams responsible for the affected GUI components and the underlying infrastructure. The first practical step is to identify all instances of the technology, assess their exposure and business criticality, and pinpoint the accountable owner to plan a risk-based remediation strategy.
- Application and infrastructure owners should manage the issue.
- Verify affected technology deployment and user access.
- Plan remediation based on identified exposure.
