CVE-2024-52008: Ethyca Fides Auth Bypass Vulnerability

CVE-2024-52008 Overview

CVE-2024-52008 affects Fides, an open-source privacy engineering platform developed by Ethyca. The vulnerability exists in the /api/v1/user/accept-invite API endpoint, which fails to enforce server-side password policy validation. Client-side complexity checks in the user interface can be bypassed with direct API calls, allowing invited users to set passwords as short as a single character. Attackers can trivially guess or brute force these weak credentials to compromise affected accounts. Ethyca patched the flaw in Fides version 2.50.0. The issue is tracked under [CWE-602: Client-Side Enforcement of Server-Side Security].

Critical Impact
Invited users can bypass password complexity requirements and create accounts with trivially guessable passwords, enabling straightforward account takeover through brute force.

Affected Products

Ethyca Fides versions prior to 2.50.0
Deployments with email messaging providers enabled
Fides instances using the user invite acceptance workflow

Discovery Timeline

2024-11-26 - CVE-2024-52008 published to NVD
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-52008

Vulnerability Analysis

Fides supports user onboarding through an invitation flow. When an administrator creates a new user account and an email messaging provider is configured, Fides emails the invitee a link to a page where they set their initial password. The web UI enforces password complexity rules such as minimum length and character diversity before submitting the credential.

However, these validations execute only in the browser. The backend endpoint /api/v1/user/accept-invite accepts any password value without re-validating complexity server-side. An invited user, or an attacker who intercepts an invitation link, can submit a direct HTTP request that omits or weakens the password payload. The server persists the weak credential and marks the account as active.

After account setup, the affected user account becomes reachable through normal authentication flows. Any actor performing credential guessing or automated brute force against the login endpoint can compromise the account with minimal effort.

Root Cause

The root cause is a client-side security control that is not mirrored on the server. Password policy checks live exclusively in the front-end JavaScript, while the API trusts submitted values. This pattern falls under [CWE-602], where enforcement responsibility is misplaced on an untrusted client.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires a valid invitation link, so the attacker is typically the invited user or an actor with access to the invite email. The attacker calls the accept-invite endpoint directly using a tool such as curl or an interception proxy and supplies an arbitrarily weak password. No privileged access or additional dependencies are required beyond possession of the invitation token.

Review the Ethyca Fides GitHub Security Advisory GHSA-v7vm-rhmg-8j2r for vendor technical details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-52008

Indicators of Compromise

Successful POST requests to /api/v1/user/accept-invite originating from non-browser user agents such as curl, python-requests, or scripting tools.
New user accounts activated shortly after invitation with unusually rapid subsequent login activity from disparate source addresses.
Repeated failed authentication attempts followed by success against recently invited accounts, indicating brute force.

Detection Strategies

Inspect application logs for accept-invite requests missing expected UI fingerprints such as Referer and browser User-Agent headers.
Correlate account creation events with login patterns and flag accounts that authenticate from geographies or ASNs different from the inviter.
Audit stored password metadata where available to identify accounts that were provisioned before the 2.50.0 upgrade.

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable authentication rate limiting and alerting on the Fides login endpoint to surface brute force attempts.
Forward Fides API and authentication logs to a centralized analytics platform for behavioral baselining.
Alert on anomalous privilege usage by accounts recently onboarded through the invitation flow.

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-52008

Immediate Actions Required

Upgrade all Fides deployments to version 2.50.0 or later without delay.
Force password reset for every account that completed the invitation workflow on a vulnerable version.
Review recent accept-invite API traffic for signs of exploitation and disable suspicious accounts.

Patch Information

Ethyca fixed the vulnerability in Fides 2.50.0 by adding server-side password policy validation to the /api/v1/user/accept-invite endpoint. Full remediation details are available in the GitHub Security Advisory GHSA-v7vm-rhmg-8j2r.

Workarounds

No official workarounds exist per the vendor advisory; upgrading to 2.50.0 is required.
As a temporary compensating control, restrict access to the Fides application at the network layer until the patch is applied.
Disable the email messaging provider integration to prevent new invitation-based account provisioning during the remediation window.

bash

# Upgrade Fides to a patched version using pip
pip install --upgrade "ethyca-fides>=2.50.0"

# Verify the installed version
fides --version