CVE-2024-23590: Apache Kylin Auth Bypass Vulnerability

CVE-2024-23590 Overview

CVE-2024-23590 is a Session Fixation vulnerability affecting Apache Kylin, a popular open-source distributed analytics engine designed to provide SQL interface and multi-dimensional analysis on large datasets. This vulnerability allows attackers to manipulate session identifiers, potentially leading to unauthorized access to user accounts and sensitive data within the affected Apache Kylin installations.

Session Fixation is a class of attack where an adversary establishes a valid session with the application, then tricks a victim into authenticating with that pre-established session. Once the victim authenticates, the attacker gains access to the victim's authenticated session, effectively hijacking their identity within the application.

Critical Impact

This vulnerability enables attackers to hijack authenticated user sessions in Apache Kylin, potentially compromising sensitive business intelligence data and analytics operations across affected deployments from version 2.0.0 through 4.x.

Affected Products

• Apache Kylin versions 2.0.0 through 4.x
• All deployments using affected versions without the security patch
• Environments exposing Apache Kylin to untrusted network access

Discovery Timeline

• 2024-11-04 - CVE-2024-23590 published to NVD
• 2025-07-10 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-23590

Vulnerability Analysis

The Session Fixation vulnerability in Apache Kylin stems from improper session management within the application's authentication framework. When a user initiates a session with Apache Kylin, the application fails to properly regenerate session identifiers upon successful authentication. This weakness allows an attacker to set or predict a victim's session identifier before authentication occurs.

In a typical Session Fixation attack against Apache Kylin, an attacker would first obtain a valid session identifier from the application. The attacker then induces the victim to use this predetermined session identifier through various techniques such as URL manipulation, cookie injection, or cross-site scripting vectors. When the victim successfully authenticates, the attacker can use the known session identifier to access the victim's authenticated session.

The vulnerability presents significant risk to environments where Apache Kylin is used for business intelligence and analytics, as successful exploitation could expose sensitive corporate data, query histories, and potentially allow unauthorized modification of analytics configurations.

Root Cause

The root cause of CVE-2024-23590 is classified under CWE-384 (Session Fixation). The application fails to issue a new session identifier after successful user authentication, allowing attackers to pre-set session tokens that remain valid after authentication. This implementation flaw violates secure session management principles that require session regeneration upon privilege level changes such as login events.

Attack Vector

The vulnerability is exploitable over the network without requiring authentication or user interaction. An attacker can execute this attack by:

1. Obtaining a valid session identifier from the Apache Kylin server
2. Crafting a malicious link or request containing the attacker-controlled session ID
3. Inducing a legitimate user to authenticate using this session identifier
4. Accessing the authenticated session using the pre-determined session ID

The attack can be performed remotely and does not require any privileges on the target system, making it accessible to external threat actors targeting exposed Apache Kylin installations.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-23590

Indicators of Compromise

• Multiple authentication events associated with the same session identifier from different IP addresses
• Session IDs appearing in URL parameters or referrer logs
• Unusual session persistence patterns where sessions remain active across authentication boundaries
• Authentication events where session tokens do not change post-login

Detection Strategies

• Monitor authentication logs for session ID reuse patterns across different client addresses
• Implement session tracking to detect sessions that span authentication events without regeneration
• Deploy web application firewalls (WAF) with rules to detect session fixation attempts
• Audit Apache Kylin access logs for anomalous session behavior

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable detailed authentication logging in Apache Kylin deployments
• Configure SIEM rules to correlate session identifiers with authentication events and source IP changes
• Implement real-time alerting for session anomalies such as shared session IDs across multiple users
• Review network traffic for session ID manipulation in HTTP headers and URL parameters

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-23590

Immediate Actions Required

• Upgrade Apache Kylin to version 5.0.0 or above, which contains the security fix
• Restrict network access to Apache Kylin instances using firewalls and network segmentation
• Implement additional authentication controls such as multi-factor authentication where possible
• Review access logs for evidence of exploitation attempts

Patch Information

Users are recommended to upgrade to Apache Kylin version 5.0.0 or above, which addresses this Session Fixation vulnerability. The official advisory and patch information can be found through the Apache Mailing List Update. Additional discussion is available in the Openwall OSS Security Post.

Workarounds

• Restrict access to Apache Kylin to trusted networks only until the upgrade can be performed
• Implement reverse proxy configurations that enforce secure session management practices
• Enable TLS/SSL with secure cookie attributes (HttpOnly, Secure, SameSite) to reduce attack surface
• Consider implementing application-level session validation mechanisms as a temporary measure

For environments where immediate upgrade is not feasible, network-level isolation and enhanced monitoring should be prioritized while planning the upgrade path to version 5.0.0 or later.