CVE-2021-32701

HIGH

ORY Oathkeeper >=0.38.0-beta.2 <0.38.12-beta.1 - Incorrect Authorization via OAuth2 Introspection Cache

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Description

ORY Oathkeeper is an Identity & Access Proxy (IAP) and Access Control Decision API that authorizes HTTP requests based on sets of Access Rules. When you make a request to an endpoint that requires the scope `foo` using an access token granted with that `foo` scope, introspection will be valid and that token will be cached. The problem comes when a second requests to an endpoint that requires the scope `bar` is made before the cache has expired. Whether the token is granted or not to the `bar` scope, introspection will be valid. A patch will be released with `v0.38.12-beta.1`. Per default, caching is disabled for the `oauth2_introspection` authenticator. When caching is disabled, this vulnerability does not exist. The cache is checked in [`func (a *AuthenticatorOAuth2Introspection) Authenticate(...)`](https://github.com/ory/oathkeeper/blob/6a31df1c3779425e05db1c2a381166b087cb29a4/pipeline/authn/authenticator_oauth2_introspection.go#L152). From [`tokenFromCache()`](https://github.com/ory/oathkeeper/blob/6a31df1c3779425e05db1c2a381166b087cb29a4/pipeline/authn/authenticator_oauth2_introspection.go#L97) it seems that it only validates the token expiration date, but ignores whether the token has or not the proper scopes. The vulnerability was introduced in PR #424. During review, we failed to require appropriate test coverage by the submitter which is the primary reason that the vulnerability passed the review process.

References (3)

Core 3
Core References
Patch, Third Party Advisory x_refsource_misc
https://github.com/ory/oathkeeper/pull/424

Scores

CVSS v3 7.5
EPSS 0.0130
EPSS Percentile 66.8%
Attack Vector NETWORK
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Details

CWE
CWE-863
Status published
Products (13)
ory/oathkeeper 0.38.0 beta2
ory/oathkeeper 0.38.1 beta2
ory/oathkeeper 0.38.2 beta1
ory/oathkeeper 0.38.3 beta1
ory/oathkeeper 0.38.4 beta1
ory/oathkeeper 0.38.5 beta1
ory/oathkeeper 0.38.6 beta1
ory/oathkeeper 0.38.7 beta1
ory/oathkeeper 0.38.8 beta1
ory/oathkeeper 0.38.9 beta1
... and 3 more
Published Jun 22, 2021
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026