CVE-2022-23952 is a security vulnerability identified in the Keylime software prior to version 6.3.0. Keylime is a remote attestation framework designed to ensure the integrity of systems, often used in cloud and edge computing environments to verify that a system's software stack has not been tampered with. The vulnerability arises from the Keylime installer placing the keylime.conf configuration file with overly permissive file permissions, specifically making it world-readable. This configuration file can contain sensitive information, such as cryptographic keys, tokens, or other secrets necessary for the secure operation of Keylime. The exposure of such sensitive data to any user on the system constitutes an information disclosure vulnerability, classified under CWE-200 (Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor). The CVSS v3.1 base score for this vulnerability is 7.5, indicating a high severity level. The vector string (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N) shows that the vulnerability is remotely exploitable over the network without any privileges or user interaction, and it impacts confidentiality with high impact, but does not affect integrity or availability. Although no known exploits are reported in the wild, the nature of the vulnerability allows an attacker with local access to the system to read sensitive configuration data, potentially enabling further attacks or unauthorized access. The vulnerability was published on September 21, 2022, and affects Keylime versions before 6.3.0. No patch links are provided in the data, but upgrading to version 6.3.0 or later is implied as a remediation step. The vulnerability was assigned and published by Fedora's security team and is enriched by CISA, indicating recognition by US cybersecurity authorities.

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2022-23952 can be significant, especially for those relying on Keylime for system integrity verification in cloud, edge, or critical infrastructure environments. Exposure of sensitive configuration data can lead to unauthorized disclosure of cryptographic keys or tokens, which may allow attackers to bypass attestation mechanisms, impersonate trusted systems, or escalate privileges. This undermines the trustworthiness of the security posture and could facilitate further attacks such as lateral movement, data exfiltration, or sabotage. Organizations in sectors like finance, healthcare, telecommunications, and government, which often deploy advanced attestation frameworks to secure their infrastructure, are particularly at risk. Moreover, since the vulnerability requires no user interaction and can be exploited remotely if an attacker gains network access, it broadens the attack surface. The confidentiality breach could also lead to compliance violations under GDPR and other European data protection regulations if sensitive personal or operational data is indirectly exposed or compromised due to this vulnerability.

European organizations should take the following specific mitigation steps: 1) Immediately upgrade Keylime installations to version 6.3.0 or later, where the file permission issue has been corrected. 2) Audit existing Keylime deployments to verify the permissions of keylime.conf and restrict them to the minimum necessary, ideally readable only by the Keylime service user or root. 3) Implement strict access controls and monitoring on systems running Keylime to detect unauthorized access attempts to configuration files. 4) Employ file integrity monitoring solutions to alert on unexpected permission changes or access to sensitive files. 5) Review and rotate any cryptographic keys or tokens that may have been exposed due to this vulnerability. 6) Harden network access to Keylime hosts by limiting exposure to trusted networks and enforcing strong authentication and network segmentation. 7) Incorporate this vulnerability into incident response and risk assessment processes to ensure timely detection and remediation of any exploitation attempts. These steps go beyond generic patching by emphasizing proactive access control, monitoring, and key management tailored to the nature of the vulnerability.