diff --git a/blog/2026-04-08-cve-2026-33551.md b/blog/2026-04-08-cve-2026-33551.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..5e42530e18 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/2026-04-08-cve-2026-33551.md @@ -0,0 +1,91 @@ +--- +title: CVE-2026-33551 OpenStack privilege escalation with EC2 credentials from Application Credentials +authors: [garloff] +slug: openstack_privescal_ec2_creds_from_appcreds_cve_2026_33551 +tags: [security, openstack, cve] +--- + +## The vulnerability + +OpenStack allows the creation of Application Credentials to give its bearer +access to a project with the privileges of the user who created the AppCreds. +Application Credentials can have a limited lifetime and can be revoked. They +can also be _restricted_ (which means that they can not be used to create +additional application credentials) or can be assigned roles with lower +privileges, limiting the privileges that the bearer has. + +When AppCreds are used to create EC2 credentials, keystone failed to +require _unrestricted_ AppCreds and failed to require the member role, +giving AppCreds that are _restricted_ or that have limited roles the +ability to create EC2 credentials with the full privileges of the user +who created the AppCred. + +This issue was reported by Maxence Bornecque from Orange Cyberdefense CERT +Vulnerability Intelligence Watch Team and has been assigned +[CVE-2026-33551](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-33551). + +## Impact on the SCS software ecosystem + +This issue affects OpenStack environments that allow the creation of EC2 +style credentials, which is typically used for S3 access or EC2 compatibility. +This is typically the case for SCS clouds, as S3 compatibility is a requirement. + +While creating AppCreds with roles with lower privileges is not a very common +use case, it is supported by OpenStack clouds and is actually a good practice +to limit the privileges of running coponents or the delegated privileges for +human bearers of the AppCred. The fact that EC2 credentials can be used to +work around an regain the privileges of the user who created the original +AppCred is a serious issue, as it breaks the principle of least privileges +and may weaken or break security models for applications or delegated +authorizations. + +Note that this vulnerability does not allow to escalate privileges further +than the original AppCred creators privileges and does require the attacker +to get access to the limited AppCred in the first place. + +## Embargo + +The issue has been reported to the OpenStack Vulnerability Management Team in +private. The reporters and upstream developers have worked together to address +the issue with fixes and an embargo date +has been set to Tuesday, 2026-04-07, 15:00 UTC (17:00 CEST). At this point in +time, the patches get merged and the OpenStack Security Advisory +[OSSA-2026-005](https://security.openstack.org/ossa/OSSA-2026-005.html) is +published. The issue is tracked in OpenStack issue +[#2142138](https://bugs.launchpad.net/nova/+bug/2142138), which should become +publically accessible after the lift of the embargo and the publication +of this advisory. + +Under the used responsible disclosure approach, the information was shared with +a select group of trustable users of OpenStack, so they can prepare updates and +protect their user data in time for the publication. + +## Mitigation and Fixes + +The temporary fix for this issue would be to disable the creation of EC2 +credentials which however would prevent to enable new S3 access. + +There are patches from the upstream OpenStack keystone developers available. +They add a check in the EC2 credential creation path that requires the +AppCred to be unrestricted and to have at least member access to the project. + +The SCS ecosystem software providers provide fixed keystone images and +installation instructions here as soon as the updated images are available: + +- [OSISM](https://osism.tech/docs/appendix/security/ossa-2026-005) +- [yaook] (TBD) + +## Thanks + +The author would like to thank Maxence Bornecque, Grzegorz Grasza, +Douglas Mendizabal, Artem Goncharov, and Jeremy Stanley for reporting, +fixing and coordinating this issue. + +## Sovereign Cloud Stack Security Contact + +SCS security contact is [security@scs.community](mailto:security@scs.community), as published on +[https://sovereigncloudstack.org/.well-known/security.txt](https://sovereigncloudstack.org/.well-known/security.txt). + +## Version history + +- Initial draft, v0,9, 2026-04-08, 13:45 CEST