CVE-2025-49829

Executive Summary

CVE-2025-49829 is a critical vulnerability in CyberArk Conjur (both Enterprise and OSS versions) that allows authenticated attackers to inject arbitrary resources into the database and bypass permission checks. The flaw stems from missing input validations in the Secrets Manager, Self-Hosted component. Successful exploitation could lead to unauthorized access to sensitive secrets, privilege escalation, and lateral movement within the infrastructure. The vulnerability affects all versions prior to 13.5.1 and 13.6.1 for the Self-Hosted product, and prior to 1.22.1 for Conjur OSS. No public proof-of-concept or exploit code is currently available, but the risk is significant given the critical role of secrets management in modern infrastructure.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability is not directly related to a package manager (NPM, PyPI, Go, Ruby). However, Conjur is often deployed as a containerized application or via infrastructure-as-code tools. Organizations should verify the integrity of their Conjur images and ensure they are sourced from trusted registries. The patch is delivered via official CyberArk channels.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

The CVSS score is listed as 0.0, which is likely a placeholder. Based on the description, a reasonable estimated score would be 8.8 (High) with the following vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H. This reflects network attack vector, low attack complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction, unchanged scope, and high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability resides in the resource validation logic of Conjur's API. When an authenticated user creates or modifies a resource (e.g., a policy, variable, or host), the system fails to properly validate the input. This allows an attacker to inject arbitrary database entries, effectively bypassing the intended permission model.

Attack Flow:

1. An attacker authenticates to the Conjur API (e.g., via API key or certificate).
2. The attacker crafts a malicious request to create a resource, embedding additional database operations or permission overrides.
3. The missing validation allows the request to be processed, injecting unauthorized resources or modifying access control lists.
4. The attacker can then read, modify, or delete secrets that should be restricted.

The root cause is a lack of input sanitization and insufficient authorization checks on resource creation endpoints. The fix involves adding strict validation of resource types, names, and associated permissions before committing changes to the database.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

The vulnerable code likely resides in the resource creation handler (e.g., POST /resources). A simplified example:

Vulnerable (pseudo-code):

def create_resource(request):
    resource_type = request.get('type')
    resource_id = request.get('id')
    # Missing validation
    db.execute("INSERT INTO resources (type, id) VALUES (?, ?)", (resource_type, resource_id))

Patched (pseudo-code):

def create_resource(request):
    resource_type = request.get('type')
    resource_id = request.get('id')
    # Validate resource type against allowed list
    if resource_type not in ALLOWED_TYPES:
        raise InvalidRequest("Invalid resource type")
    # Validate resource ID format
    if not re.match(r'^[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+$', resource_id):
        raise InvalidRequest("Invalid resource ID")
    # Check permissions
    if not current_user.can_create(resource_type):
        raise PermissionDenied("Insufficient permissions")
    db.execute("INSERT INTO resources (type, id) VALUES (?, ?)", (resource_type, resource_id))

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team

No public exploit code is available. For lab testing, set up a vulnerable Conjur instance (e.g., version 1.21.0 OSS) and attempt to create a resource with a malicious payload.

Lab Setup:

1. Deploy Conjur OSS 1.21.0 using Docker: docker run -d --name conjur -p 443:443 cyberark/conjur:1.21.0
2. Authenticate as an admin user.
3. Attempt to create a resource with an unexpected type or ID containing SQL injection characters.

Example Attack Request:

curl -k -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Token token=\"<admin-api-key>\"" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"type": "variable; DROP TABLE resources;--", "id": "malicious"}' \
  https://localhost/resources

Blue Team

Monitor for anomalous resource creation requests. Look for:

• Unusual resource types not in the allowed list.
• Resource IDs containing special characters or SQL syntax.
• Rapid creation of multiple resources by a single user.
• Access to resources that should be restricted.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network: Unusual POST requests to /resources or /policies endpoints with non-standard payloads.
• Logs: Conjur audit logs showing creation of resources with unexpected types or IDs.
• Database: Entries in the resources table with malformed or suspicious data.
• Authentication: Multiple failed permission checks followed by successful resource creation.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2025_49829_Conjur_Resource_Injection {
    meta:
        description = "Detects attempts to exploit CVE-2025-49829 in Conjur logs"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        reference = "CVE-2025-49829"
    strings:
        $s1 = "POST /resources" ascii wide nocase
        $s2 = "type" ascii wide nocase
        $s3 = "id" ascii wide nocase
        $s4 = "DROP" ascii wide nocase
        $s5 = "INSERT" ascii wide nocase
        $s6 = "SELECT" ascii wide nocase
    condition:
        all of ($s1, $s2, $s3) and 1 of ($s4, $s5, $s6)
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2025-49829 Conjur Resource Injection Attempt
id: 8a4b3c2d-1e5f-6a7b-8c9d-0e1f2a3b4c5d
status: experimental
description: Detects HTTP requests attempting to exploit CVE-2025-49829
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: conjur
detection:
    selection:
        cs-method: 'POST'
        cs-uri-stem: '/resources'
        cs-uri-query|contains:
            - 'DROP'
            - 'INSERT'
            - 'SELECT'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate use of SQL-like strings in resource names (unlikely)
level: high

Suricata Rule

alert http $HOME_NET any -> $EXTERNAL_NET any (
    msg:"CVE-2025-49829 Conjur Resource Injection Attempt";
    flow:to_server,established;
    content:"POST"; http_method;
    content:"/resources"; http_uri;
    content:"DROP" within 100;
    sid:1000001;
    rev:1;
    reference:cve,2025-49829;
    classtype:attempted-admin;
    priority:1;
)

Remediation & Mitigation

1. Immediate: Upgrade to Conjur OSS 1.22.1, Secrets Manager Self-Hosted 13.5.1, or 13.6.1.
2. Workaround: If immediate patching is not possible, restrict network access to the Conjur API to trusted IPs only. Implement strict input validation at the reverse proxy level (e.g., Nginx) to block requests with suspicious payloads.
3. Long-term: Enforce the principle of least privilege for API keys. Regularly audit Conjur logs for anomalous resource creation. Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect injection attempts.

Valters IT
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