CVE-2023-22496: Netdata is an open source option for real-time infrastructure monitoring and troubleshooting. An attacker with the ability to establish a streaming connection…

PriorityP275critical9.8CVSS 3.1

AVNACLPRNUINSUCHIHAH

EPSS

36.17%

98.3th percentile

Netdata is an open source option for real-time infrastructure monitoring and troubleshooting. An attacker with the ability to establish a streaming connection can execute arbitrary commands on the targeted Netdata agent. When an alert is triggered, the function `health_alarm_execute` is called. This function performs different checks and then enqueues a command by calling `spawn_enq_cmd`. This command is populated with several arguments that are not sanitized. One of them is the `registry_hostname` of the node for which the alert is raised. By providing a specially crafted `registry_hostname` as part of the health data that is streamed to a Netdata (parent) agent, an attacker can execute arbitrary commands at the remote host as a side-effect of the raised alert. Note that the commands are executed as the user running the Netdata Agent. This user is usually named `netdata`. The ability to run arbitrary commands may allow an attacker to escalate privileges by escalating other vulnerabilities in the system, as that user. The problem has been fixed in: Netdata agent v1.37 (stable) and Netdata agent v1.36.0-409 (nightly). As a workaround, streaming is not enabled by default. If you have previously enabled this, it can be disabled. Limiting access to the port on the recipient Agent to trusted child connections may mitigate the impact of this vulnerability.

Affected

5 ranges

Vendor	Product	Version range	Fixed in
debian	netdata	< netdata 1.37.0-1 (bookworm)	netdata 1.37.0-1 (bookworm)
netdata	netdata	< 1.36.0-409	1.36.0-409
netdata	netdata	< 1.37	1.37
netdata	netdata	< 1.37.0	1.37.0
netdata	netdata	>= 0 < 1.37.0-1	1.37.0-1

Detection & IOCsextracted from sources · hover to see the quote

processhealth_alarm_execute↗

processspawn_enq_cmd↗

→Monitor for unsanitized `registry_hostname` values in streamed health data to a Netdata parent agent — a specially crafted hostname can trigger arbitrary OS command execution via the alert pipeline. ↗
→Alert on unexpected child processes spawned by the `netdata` user, especially shell commands or interpreters, as exploitation runs commands under that account. ↗
→Audit inbound streaming connections to the Netdata parent agent port; restrict to trusted child nodes only to reduce attack surface. ↗
→Flag Netdata agent installations running versions below v1.37 (stable) or v1.36.0-409 (nightly) with streaming enabled as actively vulnerable. ↗
→On Debian bullseye, the package remains unpatched (open); treat any bullseye host running netdata with streaming enabled as unmitigated. ↗

·Streaming is disabled by default; the vulnerability is only exploitable if streaming has been explicitly enabled in the Netdata configuration. ↗

CVSS provenance

nvdv3.19.8CRITICALCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

osv9.8CRITICAL

vendor_debian8.1HIGH

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