CVE-2024-24562

Executive Summary

CVE-2024-24562 affects the vantage6-UI, the official user interface for the vantage6 server. The vulnerability arises from the absence of critical security headers in HTTP responses served by the application. This misconfiguration can lead to various client-side attacks, including clickjacking, MIME-type sniffing, and cross-site scripting (XSS) in older browsers. The CVSS score of 5.4 (Medium) reflects the moderate impact and the lack of direct remote code execution, but the attack surface is broadened by the missing headers.

The vulnerability is classified under CWE-693: Protection Mechanism Failure, as the application fails to implement standard security headers that are widely recommended for web applications. The patch is available in a commit (68dfa6614) but has not been released in a stable version. Users are advised to apply the patch manually or modify the Docker image to inject the missing headers into the Nginx configuration.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability is not directly related to a package manager (NPM, PyPI, Go, Ruby) but is part of the vantage6-UI project, which is a web application. The supply chain risk is low, as the issue is in the application’s own configuration rather than a dependency. However, if the UI is deployed via Docker images, the missing headers could be inherited from the base image or the default Nginx configuration.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
• Base Score: 5.4 (Medium)
• Attack Vector: Network (AV:N) – The vulnerability is exploitable remotely.
• Attack Complexity: Low (AC:L) – No special conditions required.
• Privileges Required: None (PR:N) – No authentication needed.
• User Interaction: None (UI:N) – No user action required for exploitation.
• Scope: Unchanged (S:U) – The vulnerable component and the impacted component are the same.
• Confidentiality Impact: Low (C:L) – Limited information disclosure possible.
• Integrity Impact: Low (I:L) – Limited modification of data possible.
• Availability Impact: None (A:N) – No denial of service.

Threat Level: Medium. The vulnerability is easy to exploit but has limited impact. However, in combination with other weaknesses (e.g., XSS), it could be chained for more severe attacks.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability is a missing security headers issue. The following headers are not set in the HTTP responses from the vantage6-UI:

• X-Content-Type-Options: Prevents MIME-type sniffing.
• X-Frame-Options: Prevents clickjacking by controlling if the page can be embedded in frames.
• Content-Security-Policy: Mitigates XSS and data injection attacks.
• Strict-Transport-Security: Enforces HTTPS connections.
• X-XSS-Protection: Enables the browser’s XSS filter (deprecated but still used).

Without these headers, an attacker can:

1. Clickjacking: Embed the UI in an invisible iframe to trick users into performing actions.
2. MIME Sniffing: Serve malicious content that the browser interprets as executable.
3. XSS (in older browsers): Exploit missing CSP to inject scripts.

The fix involves adding these headers to the Nginx configuration. The commit 68dfa6614 adds the following lines to the Nginx config:

add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff" always;
add_header X-Frame-Options "DENY" always;
add_header Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'; style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline';" always;
add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains" always;
add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block" always;

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Vulnerable Configuration (Nginx default):

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://vantage6-ui:5000;
    }
}

Patched Configuration (after commit 68dfa6614):

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;
    add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff" always;
    add_header X-Frame-Options "DENY" always;
    add_header Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'; style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline';" always;
    add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains" always;
    add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block" always;
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://vantage6-ui:5000;
    }
}

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team

Prerequisites:

• A vulnerable vantage6-UI instance (any version before the patch).
• A controlled environment (e.g., local Docker setup).

Exploitation Steps:

1. Identify Missing Headers: Use curl to check the response headers:

   curl -I http://target-vantage6-ui/
   

   Look for missing headers like X-Frame-Options, Content-Security-Policy, etc.

2. Clickjacking Attack: Create an HTML page that embeds the target in an iframe:

   <html>
   <body>
   <iframe src="http://target-vantage6-ui/" width="800" height="600"></iframe>
   </body>
   </html>
   

   If the page loads in the iframe, the site is vulnerable to clickjacking.

3. MIME Sniffing Attack: Upload a file with a benign extension (e.g., .txt) but containing JavaScript. If the server does not set X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff, the browser may execute it as HTML.

4. XSS via Missing CSP: If the application has any reflected XSS, the missing CSP allows arbitrary script execution.

No public exploit code is available for this CVE.

Blue Team

Detection:

• Monitor HTTP response headers for missing security headers.
• Use tools like securityheaders.com or curl to audit.

Mitigation:

• Apply the patch from commit 68dfa6614 or manually add the headers to the Nginx configuration.
• If using Docker, modify the Dockerfile to include the headers in the Nginx config.

Lab Setup:

1. Deploy a vulnerable vantage6-UI using Docker:

   docker run -d -p 80:5000 vantage6/vantage6-ui:latest
   

2. Verify missing headers with curl -I http://localhost/.
3. Apply the patch by editing the Nginx config inside the container or rebuilding the image.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network:

  • HTTP responses missing headers: X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options, Content-Security-Policy, Strict-Transport-Security, X-XSS-Protection.
  • Referer header pointing to an iframe embedding the UI.

• Host:

  • Nginx configuration files without add_header directives for security headers.
  • Docker images built from unpatched vantage6-UI.

• Logs:

  • Web server logs showing requests from unexpected origins (potential clickjacking).
  • Browser console warnings about missing security headers.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2024_24562_Missing_Security_Headers {
    meta:
        description = "Detects missing security headers in HTTP responses from vantage6-UI"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        cve = "CVE-2024-24562"
    strings:
        $x_frame = "X-Frame-Options" nocase
        $x_content = "X-Content-Type-Options" nocase
        $csp = "Content-Security-Policy" nocase
        $hsts = "Strict-Transport-Security" nocase
        $xss = "X-XSS-Protection" nocase
    condition:
        // Check if any of the headers are missing in the response
        for any of ($x_frame, $x_content, $csp, $hsts, $xss): (not #)
}

Sigma Rule

title: Missing Security Headers in vantage6-UI
id: 8a9b7c6d-5e4f-3a2b-1c0d-9e8f7a6b5c4d
status: experimental
description: Detects HTTP responses from vantage6-UI missing critical security headers.
author: Valters IT
date: 2025/04/10
tags:
    - attack.t1190
    - cve.2024.24562
logsource:
    category: web
    product: generic
detection:
    selection:
        http.response.header|contains:
            - 'X-Frame-Options'
            - 'X-Content-Type-Options'
            - 'Content-Security-Policy'
            - 'Strict-Transport-Security'
            - 'X-XSS-Protection'
    condition: not selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate applications that intentionally omit headers (rare)
level: medium

Suricata Rule

alert http any any -> any any (msg:"CVE-2024-24562 - Missing Security Headers in vantage6-UI"; flow:to_client; content:"HTTP/1.1 200 OK"; http_server_body; content:!"X-Frame-Options"; content:!"X-Content-Type-Options"; content:!"Content-Security-Policy"; content:!"Strict-Transport-Security"; content:!"X-XSS-Protection"; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Actions:

1. Apply the patch: If you have access to the source code, apply commit 68dfa6614 to the Nginx configuration.
2. Manual workaround: Add the following headers to the Nginx configuration file:

   add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff" always;
   add_header X-Frame-Options "DENY" always;
   add_header Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'; style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline';" always;
   add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains" always;
   add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block" always;
   

3. Docker users: Modify the Dockerfile to include the above headers in the Nginx config before building the image.

Long-term:

• Monitor the vantage6 project for a stable release containing the fix.
• Implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) to enforce security headers as a defense-in-depth measure.
• Regularly audit HTTP response headers using automated tools.

Valters IT Signature: This report was generated by Valters IT DevSecOps AI. For questions, contact security@valters-it.com.