Facebook Google Plus Twitter LinkedIn YouTube RSS Menu Search Resource - BlogResource - WebinarResource - ReportResource - Eventicons_066 icons_067icons_068icons_069icons_070

Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics Hosts File Poisoning

Low

Synopsis

Tenable Research has discovered a flaw that allows a user to poison the hosts file on all nodes in their pool, which allows one to redirect subsets of traffic and snoop on services users generally do not have access to.

There exists a service on one of the hosts in each Spark pool called “HostResolver.” To be specific, it can be found at “/opt/microsoft/Microsoft.Analytics.Clusters.Services.HostResolver.dll” on each of the nodes in the Synapse environment. This service is used to manage the “hosts” file for all hosts in the Spark cluster. Due to the lack of any authentication features, a low-privileged user is able to overwrite the “hosts” file on all nodes in their Spark pool, which allows them to snoop on services and traffic they otherwise are not intended to be able to see.

For more details, please see our Tenable Techblog entry

Solution

No known solution is available at this time.

Disclosure Timeline

March 10, 2022 - Tenable disclosed two issues to MSRC via researcher portal.
March 10, 2022 - MSRC sends automated acknowledgement.
March 18, 2022 - Tenable requests status update via researcher portal. No response from MSRC.
March 28, 2022 - Tenable requests status update via researcher portal. No response from MSRC.
April 4, 2022 - Tenable requests status update via researcher portal. No response from MSRC.
April 6, 2022 - MSRC requests issues be split into multiple tickets, but no status update is given. Tenable complies.
April 12, 2022 - MSRC requests clarification.
April 13, 2022 - Tenable provides clarification.
April 19, 2022 - Tenable requests a status update.
April 25, 2022 - Tenable requests status update and reminds MSRC that the disclosure period is more than halfway through.
April 28, 2022 - Tenable requests status update via MSRC email due to lack of responses in researcher portal.
May 10, 2022 - MSRC provides a status update.
May 14, 2022 - MSRC requests phone call and requests clarification.
May 16, 2022 - Tenable denies requests and states preference for disclosure correspondence to remain in writing. Clarification provided.
May 31, 2022 - Tenable requests status update.
June 6, 2022 - Tenable informs MSRC that case is considered closed due to MSRC's insistence this issue is not security-related.
June 6, 2022 - MSRC representatives contact Tenable and inform them that they believe it is indeed a security issue.
June 7, 2022 - Tenable and MSRC discuss varying opinions on severity.

All information within TRA advisories is provided “as is”, without warranty of any kind, including the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, and with no guarantee of completeness, accuracy, or timeliness. Individuals and organizations are responsible for assessing the impact of any actual or potential security vulnerability.

Tenable takes product security very seriously. If you believe you have found a vulnerability in one of our products, we ask that you please work with us to quickly resolve it in order to protect customers. Tenable believes in responding quickly to such reports, maintaining communication with researchers, and providing a solution in short order.

For more details on submitting vulnerability information, please see our Vulnerability Reporting Guidelines page.

If you have questions or corrections about this advisory, please email [email protected]

Risk Information

Tenable Advisory ID: TRA-2022-19
Affected Products:
Azure Synapse Analytics Spark VM Hostresolver.dll
Risk Factor:
Low

Advisory Timeline

June 8, 2022 - Initial release.