Ecosyste.ms: Advisories

Security Advisories: GSA_kwCzR0hTQS01aGNqLXJ3bTYteG13NM4AA-TA

biscuit-java vulnerable to public key confusion in third party block

Impact

Tokens with third-party blocks containing trusted annotations generated through a third party block request. Due to implementation issues in biscuit-java, third party block support in published versions is inoperating. Nevertheless, to synchronize with other implementations, we publish this advisory and the related fix.

Description

Third-party blocks can be generated without transferring the whole token to the third-party authority. Instead, a ThirdPartyBlock request can be sent, providing only the necessary info to generate a third-party block and to sign it:

the public key of the previous block (used in the signature)
the public keys part of the token symbol table (for public key interning in datalog expressions)
A third-part block request forged by a malicious user can trick the third-party authority into generating datalog trusting the wrong keypair.

Consider the following example (nominal case)

• Authority A emits the following token: check if thirdparty("b") trusting ${pubkeyB}
• The well-behaving holder then generates a third-party block request based on the token and sends it to third-party authority B
• Third-party B generates the following third-party block thirdparty("b"); check if thirdparty("c") trusting ${pubkeyC}
• The token holder now must obtain a third-party block from third party C to be able to use the token

Now, with a malicious user:

• Authority A emits the following token: check if thirdparty("b") trusting ${pubkeyB}
• The holder then attenuates the token with the following third party block thirdparty("c"), signed with a keypair pubkeyD, privkeyD) they generate
• The holder then generates a third-party block request based on this token, but alter the ThirdPartyBlockRequest publicKeys field and replace pubkeyD with pubkeyC
• Third-party B generates the following third-party block thirdparty("b"); check if thirdparty("c") trusting ${pubkeyC}
• Due to the altered symbol table, the actual meaning of the block is thirdparty("b"); check if thirdparty("c") trusting ${pubkeyD}
• The attacker can now use the token without obtaining a third-party block from C.

Patches

Has the problem been patched? What versions should users upgrade to?

Workarounds

Is there a way for users to fix or remediate the vulnerability without upgrading?

References

Are there any links users can visit to find out more?

Permalink: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-5hcj-rwm6-xmw4
JSON: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories/GSA_kwCzR0hTQS01aGNqLXJ3bTYteG13NM4AA-TA
Source: GitHub Advisory Database
Origin: Unspecified
Severity: Moderate
Classification: General
Published: 4 months ago
Updated: 5 days ago

CVSS Score: 3.0
CVSS vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:N

Identifiers: GHSA-5hcj-rwm6-xmw4, CVE-2024-41948
References:

• https://github.com/biscuit-auth/biscuit-java/security/advisories/GHSA-5hcj-rwm6-xmw4
• https://github.com/biscuit-auth/biscuit-java/commit/2e05e7b3f8f2aae38f33294f19419e2d638cb564
• https://github.com/biscuit-auth/biscuit-java/releases/tag/4.0.0
• https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-41948
• https://github.com/biscuit-auth/biscuit/security/advisories/GHSA-rgqv-mwc3-c78m
• https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-5hcj-rwm6-xmw4

Repository: https://github.com/biscuit-auth/biscuit-java
Blast Radius: 1.0

Affected Packages