CVE-2024-28253
OpenMetadata is a unified platform for discovery, observability, and governance powered by a central metadata repository, in-depth lineage, and seamless team collaboration. CompiledRule::validateExpression is also called from PolicyRepository.prepare. prepare() is called from EntityRepository.prepareInternal() which, in turn, gets called from EntityResource.createOrUpdate(). Note that even though there is an authorization check (authorizer.authorize()), it gets called after prepareInternal() gets called and therefore after the SpEL expression has been evaluated. In order to reach this method, an attacker can send a PUT request to /api/v1/policies which gets handled by PolicyResource.createOrUpdate(). This vulnerability was discovered with the help of CodeQL's Expression language injection (Spring) query and is also tracked as GHSL-2023-252. This issue may lead to Remote Code Execution and has been addressed in version 1.3.1. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
| Software | From | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
org.open-metadata / openmetadata-service
|
- | 1.3.1 |
| open-metadata / openmetadata | - | 1.3.1 |
- https://codeql.github.com/codeql-query-help/java/java-spel-expression-injection
- https://github.com/open-metadata/OpenMetadata/blob/b6b337e09a05101506a5faba4b45d370cc3c9fc8/openmetadata-service/src/main/java/org/openmetadata/service/jdbi3/EntityRepository.java#L693
- https://github.com/open-metadata/OpenMetadata/blob/b6b337e09a05101506a5faba4b45d370cc3c9fc8/openmetadata-service/src/main/java/org/openmetadata/service/resources/EntityResource.java#L219
- https://github.com/open-metadata/OpenMetadata/blob/b6b337e09a05101506a5faba4b45d370cc3c9fc8/openmetadata-service/src/main/java/org/openmetadata/service/resources/policies/PolicyResource.java#L365
- https://github.com/open-metadata/OpenMetadata/blob/main/openmetadata-service/src/main/java/org/openmetadata/service/jdbi3/PolicyRepository.java#L113
- https://github.com/open-metadata/OpenMetadata/security/advisories/GHSA-7vf4-x5m2-r6gr
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A security vulnerability is a weakness in software, hardware, or configuration that can be exploited to compromise confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Many vulnerabilities are tracked as CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), which provide a standardized identifier so teams can coordinate patching, mitigation, and risk assessment across tools and vendors.
CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) estimates technical severity, but it doesn't automatically equal business risk. Prioritize using context like internet exposure, affected asset criticality, known exploitation (proof-of-concept or in-the-wild), and whether compensating controls exist. A "Medium" CVSS on an exposed, production system can be more urgent than a "Critical" on an isolated, non-production host.
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Use a simple, repeatable triage model: focus first on externally exposed assets, high-value systems (identity, VPN, email, production), vulnerabilities with known exploits, and issues that enable remote code execution or privilege escalation. Then enforce patch SLAs and track progress using consistent metrics so remediation is steady, not reactive.
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