Improper Access ControlWeakness · CWE-284

CVE-2022-45929

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-06-20
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Northern.tech Mender 3.3.x before 3.3.2, 3.5.x before 3.5.0, and 3.6.x before 3.6.0 has Incorrect Access Control and allows users to change their roles and could allow privilege escalation from a low-privileged read-only user to a high-privileged user.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Mender before 3.3.2, 3.5.0, and 3.6.0 contains an incorrect access control vulnerability where low-privileged read-only users can modify their own role assignments, enabling privilege escalation to high-privileged administrator or developer roles.

MitigationUpgrade Mender to version 3.3.2, 3.5.0, 3.6.0 or later to receive the access control fix that properly enforces role-based permissions.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed Mender server version
    Check the Mender UI or API, or inspect the Mender server container/image version tags and compare to 3.3.2, 3.5.0, and 3.6.0
    Affected if version is lower than 3.3.2, or between 3.3.2 and 3.5.0 (exclusive), or between 3.5.0 and 3.6.0 (exclusive)
  2. Confirm Mender user account role
    Log into the Mender UI or query the API to see what role the user account has assigned
    Affected if user has only read-only or standard user role permissions
  3. Test role modification capability
    As a low-privileged read-only user, attempt to access the user settings or role assignment API endpoint and try to modify own role
    Affected if user can change their own role from read-only to admin or developer without admin privileges
  4. Check API authorization headers
    Use a read-only user token and inspect API responses when calling endpoints that should be restricted (such as PUT/POST /api/management/v1/users/{id}/roles)
    Affected if API accepts role modification requests from read-only user tokens

If Mender version is below 3.3.2, 3.5.0, or 3.6.0 AND a read-only user can escalate their own privileges, the environment is vulnerable.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade Mender to version 3.3.2, 3.5.0, 3.6.0 or later to receive the access control fix that properly enforces role-based permissions.

Recommended fix High confidence

Mender 3.3.2, 3.5.0, or 3.6.0 (depending on your release track)

  1. 1. Identify the currently installed Mender version by checking the Mender server configuration or UI.
  2. 2. If running Mender 3.3.x, upgrade to version 3.3.2 or later.
  3. 3. If running Mender 3.5.x, upgrade to version 3.5.0 or later.
  4. 4. If running Mender 3.6.x, upgrade to version 3.6.0 or later.
  5. 5. After upgrade, verify that role modification privileges are properly restricted by testing with a low-privileged read-only user account.
  6. 6. Confirm the user can no longer escalate their own privileges to higher-privileged roles.
Caveat Review Mender release notes for your target version to check for any compatibility or migration requirements

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,130
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-45929 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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