Customers of ServiceNow, a cloud-based platform used to handle IT providers and processes, could possibly be unknowingly exposing confidential info, together with names, telephone numbers, inner system particulars, and lively credentials.
Misconfiguration of Data Bases — self-service platforms inside ServiceNow the place customers can create, retailer, and share info equivalent to articles and guides — may result in unauthorised people getting access to the system. Many organisations use Data Bases as repositories of delicate inner info, equivalent to the right way to reset firm passwords, how to reply to a cyberattack, information associated to HR processes, and extra.
In accordance with a brand new weblog from SaaS safety platform supplier AppOmni, round 60% of exposures contain older variations of Data Bases which can be set as much as enable public entry by default. Others have “Person Standards” — guidelines that outline particular circumstances for customers to entry or contribute to Data Bases — which can be unintentionally granting entry to unauthenticated customers.
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ServiceNow is utilized by 85% of Fortune 500, and over a thousand situations are at present arrange incorrectly. Many organisations with a number of ServiceNow situations have been discovered to have constantly misconfigured Data Base entry controls, indicating that the settings have been both cloned throughout situations or a basic misunderstanding of how they work exists.
Aaron Costello, chief of SaaS safety analysis at AppOmni, mentioned, “This highlights the pressing want for enterprises to routinely test and replace their safety configurations to forestall unauthorised entry and shield their information property.
“Understanding these points and the right way to mitigate them is important for sustaining sturdy safety in enterprise SaaS environments.”
This isn’t the primary time ServiceNow has been discovered to have been exposing delicate information as a result of person misconfigurations. In 2020, one other researcher reported the same discovering the place Data Base articles have been publicly accessible via a now-secure UI web page.
Ben De Bont, chief info safety officer at ServiceNow, mentioned, “ServiceNow is dedicated to fostering collaboration with the safety group. We’re dedicated to defending our prospects’ information, and safety researchers are vital companions in our ongoing efforts to enhance the safety of our merchandise.”
What are the Data Base misconfigurations?
AppOmni found three circumstances whereby companies have been placing their ServiceNow Data Bases vulnerable to compromise:
- If utilizing an older model of ServiceNow the place the default settings for Data Base enable public entry when Person Standards aren’t arrange.
- If the “Any Person” and “Any person for kb” Person Standards are used as allowlists. Each of those grant entry to unauthenticated customers, which directors could not realise.
- If directors don’t configure denylists, permitting exterior customers to bypass entry controls.
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How attackers can achieve entry to the Data Bases
In accordance with Costello’s proof of idea, attackers can achieve entry to misconfigured Data Bases via Public Widgets, such because the “KB Article Web page” widget, which shows content material from a selected Data Base article.
An attacker can automate requests to seek out and entry articles via the widget utilizing a instrument known as Burp Suite. That is simpler with the KB Article Web page widget, which makes use of a predictable format for article IDs of “KBXXXXXXX,” the place X represents a optimistic integer.
Burp Suite’s Intruder function can rapidly iterate over these integers and establish articles that could be uncovered unintentionally. It may possibly then return the physique textual content, which can include the delicate information of a number of unsecured articles directly.
Tips on how to safe Data Bases in opposition to unauthorised entry
Run common diagnostics on Data Base entry controls
ServiceNow’s Person Standards diagnostics instrument permits directors to find out which customers, each authenticated and unauthenticated, have the power to entry Data Bases and particular person articles.
Navigate to /get_public_knowledge_bases.do to establish public Data Bases, and the complete diagnostics instrument at /km_diagnostics.do to establish the entry degree of public and private customers to particular person articles.
Use Enterprise Guidelines to disclaim unauthenticated entry to Data Bases by default
Make sure the “sys_id 6c8ec5147711111016f35c207b5a9969” Enterprise Rule — which provides the Visitor Person to the “Can’t Learn and Can’t Contribute” Person Standards — is activated for Data Bases.