Horizon Alert
Summary of the vulnerability and why it matters
This advisory addresses a critical security vulnerability in Chartbrew, an open-source web application used for creating charts from database and API data. The flaw allows an attacker to forge session tokens, bypassing authentication and gaining unauthorized access to user data and application functions. The main concern is confirming relevance and exposure within your deployed Chartbrew instances.
- Attackers can forge login tokens.
- Protects against unauthorized data access.
- Confirm relevance and exposure.
Attack Path
How an attacker could exploit the issue
An attacker can impersonate any user by forging a session token if they know a weak or default secret key used to sign tokens. This is possible because the application has a fallback mechanism that accepts these forged tokens, granting the attacker the same access and privileges as the targeted user without needing their credentials. This vulnerability affects installations using default Docker Compose setups or any instance where the secret key is exposed or weak.
- Attacker needs weak secret key.
- Forged token bypasses authentication.
- Full user impersonation and privilege escalation.
Live Threat
Current exploitation, exposure, and threat context
When Chartbrew is deployed with a known, weak, or default `CB_SECRET`, an attacker could forge a session token to impersonate any user. This forged token bypasses password and two-factor authentication, granting the attacker the impersonated user's privileges across the application's API and socket layer.
- User session data.
- Forged tokens grant unauthorized access.
- Full user privileges are compromised.
Operational Fix
Recommended remediation, mitigation, and detection steps
The ownership of this critical vulnerability likely falls to platform or infrastructure teams responsible for managing the Chartbrew deployment, with input from application owners. The initial practical step is to identify all Chartbrew instances, confirm their exposure and business criticality, and ascertain the accountable owner for each. Remediation planning should then be prioritized based on these findings, considering factors like the CB_SECRET configuration and potential for exploitation.
- Identify Chartbrew instances and owners.
- Verify CB_SECRET and network exposure.
- Plan remediation or temporary risk reduction.
