CVE-2024-1442: Grafana Auth Bypass Vulnerability

CVE-2024-1442 Overview

A privilege escalation vulnerability exists in Grafana that allows a user with data source creation permissions to gain unauthorized access to all data sources within an organization. By leveraging the Grafana API to create a data source with a UID set to the wildcard character *, an attacker can escalate their privileges to read, query, edit, and delete all data sources in the organization.

Critical Impact

This vulnerability enables complete compromise of data source access controls within a Grafana organization, potentially exposing sensitive monitoring data, credentials, and allowing manipulation or deletion of critical infrastructure monitoring configurations.

Affected Products

• Grafana (multiple versions)
• NetApp products bundling Grafana (see NetApp Security Advisory NTAP-20241122-0007)

Discovery Timeline

• 2024-03-07 - CVE-2024-1442 published to NVD
• 2025-03-11 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-1442

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability is classified as Improper Privilege Management (CWE-269). The flaw exists in Grafana's data source permission handling mechanism, where the wildcard character * is not properly validated when used as a data source UID during creation. Under normal circumstances, data source UIDs should be unique identifiers that restrict access to individual data sources. However, when a user creates a data source with the UID set to *, Grafana's permission system interprets this as granting access to all data sources, effectively bypassing the intended access controls.

The attack requires authenticated access with permissions to create data sources, which is a common privilege granted to users who need to configure monitoring integrations. This makes the vulnerability particularly concerning in multi-tenant Grafana deployments where different teams or users should have isolated access to their respective data sources.

Root Cause

The root cause lies in insufficient input validation in Grafana's data source creation API. The application fails to reject or sanitize the wildcard character * when it is submitted as a data source UID. Because Grafana's internal permission matching logic uses * as a pattern to match all resources, creating a data source with this UID inadvertently grants the creator universal access permissions across all data sources in the organization.

Attack Vector

The attack is network-based and can be executed by any authenticated user who has been granted the permission to create data sources. The attacker would make an API call to Grafana's data source creation endpoint, specifying * as the UID value. Once the data source is created with this wildcard UID, the attacker gains the ability to:

• Read configuration and credentials from all data sources
• Execute queries against any data source in the organization
• Modify or delete any data source configuration
• Potentially access sensitive backend systems connected via data sources

This is particularly dangerous because data sources often contain database credentials, API keys, and connection strings to critical infrastructure components.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-1442

Indicators of Compromise

• Presence of a data source with UID set to * in Grafana configuration
• Audit logs showing data source creation with unusual UID patterns
• Unexpected data source access patterns from users who should have limited permissions
• API calls to /api/datasources endpoint with wildcard characters in the UID field

Detection Strategies

• Review Grafana audit logs for data source creation events containing wildcard characters
• Implement API request monitoring to detect attempts to create data sources with special characters in the UID field
• Periodically scan data source configurations for any entries with * as the UID
• Monitor for anomalous data source access patterns that indicate privilege escalation

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable comprehensive audit logging in Grafana and forward logs to a SIEM solution
• Set up alerts for data source creation and modification events
• Implement role-based access monitoring to detect users accessing data sources outside their normal scope
• Regularly audit data source permissions and UIDs to identify potential exploitation attempts

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-1442

Immediate Actions Required

• Upgrade Grafana to a patched version as specified in the Grafana Security Advisory
• Audit existing data sources for any with UID set to * and remove or rename them immediately
• Review recent data source creation activity for suspicious patterns
• Restrict data source creation permissions to only trusted administrators until patched

Patch Information

Grafana has released security patches to address this vulnerability. Organizations should consult the Grafana Security Advisory CVE-2024-1442 for specific version information and upgrade guidance. NetApp customers using Grafana should also refer to NetApp Security Advisory NTAP-20241122-0007 for product-specific guidance.

Workarounds

• Restrict data source creation permissions to only essential administrative users
• Implement API gateway rules to block data source creation requests containing wildcard characters
• Use network segmentation to limit access to Grafana administrative interfaces
• Enable strict audit logging and monitoring for all data source operations until the patch can be applied

# Check for data sources with wildcard UID (run against Grafana API)
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $GRAFANA_TOKEN" \
  "https://your-grafana-instance/api/datasources" | \
  jq '.[] | select(.uid == "*")'