Horizon Alert
Summary of the vulnerability and why it matters
A vulnerability in Apache CXF's handling of security tokens could allow unauthorized access by bypassing required checks. While this specific mechanism is not enabled by default, confirming its usage within our environment is important for understanding potential risks.
- Authentication bypass in security token validation.
- Potential to bypass security controls, if enabled.
- Confirm relevance and confirm exposure if used.
Attack Path
How an attacker could exploit the issue
An attacker could craft a self-issued ID token that bypasses required claim checks in Apache CXF's OIDC relying-party token validation. This bypass allows an attacker to authenticate as a legitimate user without proper verification, potentially leading to unauthorized access to protected resources. While not enabled by default, if the feature to accept self-issued ID tokens is configured, this vulnerability can be triggered.
- Requires configurable self-issued tokens.
- Triggers on token validation by the relying party.
- Allows authentication bypass and unauthorized access.
Live Threat
Current exploitation, exposure, and threat context
The OIDC relying-party token validation in Apache CXF could be bypassed using specially crafted tokens. This could allow an attacker to authenticate as a valid user without meeting the required claim checks, provided that self-issued ID tokens are accepted by the validator and the attacker can craft a suitable token.
- Authentication bypass could occur.
- Crafted tokens could be accepted.
- Unauthorized access to services.
Operational Fix
Recommended remediation, mitigation, and detection steps
Apache CXF's OIDC relying party implementation is affected, commonly found in web applications or API gateways exposed externally for user authentication. The initial step is to identify all instances of the affected technology, confirm their exposure and criticality, and then assign ownership for risk-based remediation planning.
- Application and platform teams own this issue.
- Verify OIDC relying party implementations.
- Plan remediation based on exposure risk.
