Customers of ServiceNow, a cloud-based platform used to handle IT providers and processes, might be unknowingly exposing confidential info, together with names, telephone 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 comparable 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, comparable to find out how to reset firm passwords, how to answer a cyberattack, information associated to HR processes, and extra.
In line with a new weblog from SaaS safety platform supplier AppOmni, round 60% of exposures contain older variations of Information Bases which can be set as much as enable public entry by default. Others have “Person Standards” — guidelines that outline particular situations for customers to entry or contribute to Information 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 cases are at present arrange incorrectly. Many organisations with a number of ServiceNow cases have been discovered to have persistently misconfigured Information Base entry controls, indicating that the settings have been both cloned throughout cases or a elementary misunderstanding of how they work exists.
Aaron Costello, chief of SaaS safety analysis at AppOmni, stated, “This highlights the pressing want for enterprises to routinely examine and replace their safety configurations to forestall unauthorised entry and defend their information belongings.
“Understanding these points and find out how to mitigate them is important for sustaining strong safety in enterprise SaaS environments.”
This isn’t the primary time ServiceNow has been discovered to have been exposing delicate information on account of consumer misconfigurations. In 2020, one other researcher reported an analogous discovering the place Information Base articles have been publicly accessible by a now-secure UI web page.
Ben De Bont, chief info safety officer at ServiceNow, stated, “ServiceNow is dedicated to fostering collaboration with the safety group. 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 liable to compromise:
- If utilizing an older model of ServiceNow the place the default settings for Information Base enable public entry when Person Standards aren’t arrange.
- If the “Any Person” and “Any consumer for kb” Person Standards are used as allowlists. Each of those grant entry to unauthenticated customers, which directors might not realise.
- If directors don’t configure denylists, permitting exterior customers to bypass entry controls.
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How attackers can acquire entry to the Information Bases
In line with Costello’s proof of idea, attackers can acquire entry to misconfigured Information Bases by 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 seek out and entry articles by the widget utilizing a software 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 constructive integer.
Burp Suite’s Intruder characteristic can rapidly iterate over these integers and determine articles that could be uncovered unintentionally. It could possibly then return the physique textual content, which can include the delicate information of a number of unsecured articles without delay.
Methods to safe Information Bases in opposition to unauthorised entry
Run common diagnostics on Information Base entry controls
ServiceNow’s Person Standards diagnostics software 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 determine public Information Bases, and the complete diagnostics software at /km_diagnostics.do to determine the entry degree of public and personal 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 Person to the “Can not Learn and Can not Contribute” Person Standards — is activated for Information Bases.