CVE-2024-50619: CIPPlanner CIPAce Privilege Escalation

CVE-2024-50619 Overview

CVE-2024-50619 is a privilege escalation vulnerability affecting the My Account and User Management components in CIPPlanner CIPAce before version 9.17. This vulnerability allows low-privileged authenticated users to escalate their access levels through two distinct attack paths: tampering with client-side user ID parameters to access and modify other users' account information, and manipulating disabled user role data to elevate system privileges.

Critical Impact

A low-privileged authenticated attacker can gain unauthorized access to other users' accounts and elevate their privileges to potentially administrative levels, compromising the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the entire CIPAce deployment.

Affected Products

• CIPPlanner CIPAce versions prior to 9.17
• CIPAce My Account component
• CIPAce User Management component

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-02-11 - CVE-2024-50619 published to NVD
• 2026-02-12 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-50619

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability falls under CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management), indicating a fundamental flaw in how the CIPAce application handles user authorization and access control. The application fails to properly validate user identity and authorization on the server side when processing requests to view or modify account information.

The vulnerability enables two distinct privilege escalation scenarios. First, the application allows users to manipulate client-side user ID parameters, enabling horizontal privilege escalation where attackers can access and modify other users' account data. Second, the application improperly allows modification of user role information for roles that should be disabled or inaccessible at the client level, enabling vertical privilege escalation to higher system privileges.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability is improper privilege management in the CIPAce application's My Account and User Management components. The application relies on client-side controls to restrict access to user accounts and role modifications rather than implementing proper server-side authorization checks. This trust in client-provided data without server-side validation creates an Insecure Direct Object Reference (IDOR) condition combined with broken access control.

Attack Vector

This vulnerability is exploitable over the network by any authenticated user with low privileges. The attacker must have valid credentials to access the CIPAce system, after which they can intercept and modify HTTP requests to the My Account or User Management endpoints. By tampering with user ID parameters in these requests, the attacker can access or modify account information belonging to other users. Additionally, by identifying and manipulating disabled user role references, the attacker can assign elevated privileges to their own account.

The attack requires no user interaction from the victim and can be performed using standard web proxy tools to intercept and modify requests between the client browser and the CIPAce server.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-50619

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual account modification events where the requesting user differs from the modified user
• Multiple account access attempts for different user IDs from a single authenticated session
• Modification of user role assignments, particularly involving previously disabled roles
• Suspicious parameter tampering patterns in web application logs

Detection Strategies

• Monitor web application logs for parameter manipulation attempts on user-related endpoints
• Implement alerting for cross-user account modification activities
• Review audit logs for privilege escalation events or role assignment changes
• Deploy web application firewall rules to detect IDOR attack patterns

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable detailed logging for the My Account and User Management components
• Configure real-time alerts for user role modification events
• Implement user behavior analytics to detect anomalous access patterns
• Regularly audit user privileges and role assignments for unauthorized changes

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-50619

Immediate Actions Required

• Upgrade CIPPlanner CIPAce to version 9.17 or later immediately
• Review audit logs for any evidence of prior exploitation
• Conduct a privilege audit to identify any unauthorized role escalations
• Consider restricting access to the User Management component until patching is complete

Patch Information

CIPPlanner has released version 9.17 which addresses this vulnerability. Detailed information about the resolution is available in the CIPPlanner CVE-2024-50619 Resolution advisory. Organizations running affected versions should prioritize upgrading to the patched release.

Workarounds

• Implement network-level access controls to limit who can access the CIPAce application
• Deploy a web application firewall with rules to detect and block parameter tampering attempts
• Temporarily disable or restrict access to the User Management functionality for non-administrative users
• Enable enhanced logging and monitoring to detect exploitation attempts while awaiting patch deployment

# Configuration example
# Restrict access to User Management endpoints via web server configuration
# Example for Apache - add to .htaccess or virtual host configuration
<Location "/user-management">
    Require group administrators
</Location>

# Enable enhanced access logging
CustomLog /var/log/cipace/access.log combined