Customers of ServiceNow, a cloud-based platform used to handle IT providers and processes, might be unknowingly exposing confidential data, together with names, cellphone numbers, inner system particulars, and energetic credentials.
Misconfiguration of Data Bases — self-service platforms inside ServiceNow the place customers can create, retailer, and share data akin to articles and guides — may result in unauthorised people having access to the system. Many organisations use Data Bases as repositories of delicate inner data, akin to the best way 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 Data Bases which can be 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 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 examine and replace their safety configurations to stop unauthorised entry and shield their information property.
“Understanding these points and the best 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 consequence of consumer misconfigurations. In 2020, one other researcher reported an analogous discovering the place Data Base articles have been publicly accessible by a now-secure UI web page.
Ben De Bont, chief data safety officer at ServiceNow, mentioned, “ServiceNow is dedicated to fostering collaboration with the safety neighborhood. We’re dedicated to defending our prospects’ information, and safety researchers are essential 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 liable to compromise:
- If utilizing an older model of ServiceNow the place the default settings for Data 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 acquire entry to the Data Bases
In line with Costello’s proof of idea, attackers can acquire entry to misconfigured Data Bases by Public Widgets, such because the “KB Article Web page” widget, which shows content material from a particular Data Base article.
An attacker can automate requests to search out and entry articles by 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 will probably then return the physique textual content, which can comprise the delicate information of a number of unsecured articles without delay.
Easy methods to safe Data Bases in opposition to unauthorised entry
Run common diagnostics on Data Base entry controls
ServiceNow’s Consumer Standards diagnostics instrument permits directors to find out which customers, each authenticated and unauthenticated, have the flexibility to entry Data Bases and particular person articles.
Navigate to /get_public_knowledge_bases.do to establish public Data Bases, and the total diagnostics instrument 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 Data 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 Data Bases.