Customers of ServiceNow, a cloud-based platform used to handle IT companies and processes, could possibly be unknowingly exposing confidential info, together with names, cellphone numbers, inner system particulars, and lively credentials.
Misconfiguration of Information Bases — self-service platforms inside ServiceNow the place customers can create, retailer, and share info similar to articles and guides — might result in unauthorised people having access to the system. Many organisations use Information Bases as repositories of delicate inner info, similar to the way to reset firm passwords, how to reply to a cyberattack, information associated to HR processes, and extra.
In response to a new weblog from SaaS safety platform supplier AppOmni, round 60% of exposures contain older variations of Information Bases which are set as much as enable public entry by default. Others have “Consumer Standards” — guidelines that outline particular circumstances for customers to entry or contribute to Information Bases — which are 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 the moment arrange incorrectly. Many organisations with a number of ServiceNow situations have been discovered to have persistently misconfigured Information Base entry controls, indicating that the settings have been both cloned throughout situations or a elementary 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 stop unauthorised entry and shield their information property.
“Understanding these points and the way to mitigate them is crucial for sustaining strong safety in enterprise SaaS environments.”
This isn’t the primary time ServiceNow has been discovered to have been exposing delicate information because of consumer misconfigurations. In 2020, one other researcher reported an analogous discovering the place Information Base articles have been publicly accessible by means of 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 neighborhood. We’re dedicated to defending our clients’ information, and safety researchers are essential companions in our ongoing efforts to enhance the safety of our merchandise.”
What are the Information Base misconfigurations?
AppOmni found three circumstances whereby companies have been placing their ServiceNow Information Bases vulnerable to compromise:
- If utilizing an older model of ServiceNow the place the default settings for Information Base enable public entry when Consumer Standards aren’t arrange.
- If the “Any Consumer” and “Any consumer for kb” Consumer 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 Information Bases
In response to Costello’s proof of idea, attackers can achieve entry to misconfigured Information Bases by means of Public Widgets, such because the “KB Article Web page” widget, which shows content material from a particular Information Base article.
An attacker can automate requests to search out and entry articles by means of the widget utilizing a device referred to 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 shortly iterate over these integers and establish articles that could be uncovered unintentionally. It may well then return the physique textual content, which can comprise the delicate information of a number of unsecured articles without delay.
Learn how to safe Information Bases towards unauthorised entry
Run common diagnostics on Information Base entry controls
ServiceNow’s Consumer Standards diagnostics device permits directors to find out which customers, each authenticated and unauthenticated, have the flexibility to entry Information Bases and particular person articles.
Navigate to /get_public_knowledge_bases.do to establish public Information Bases, and the complete diagnostics device at /km_diagnostics.do to establish the entry stage of public and private customers to particular person articles.
Use Enterprise Guidelines to disclaim unauthenticated entry to Information Bases by default
Make sure the “sys_id 6c8ec5147711111016f35c207b5a9969” Enterprise Rule — which provides the Visitor Consumer to the “Can not Learn and Can not Contribute” Consumer Standards — is activated for Information Bases.