CVE-2022-24841 is a medium-severity authorization bypass vulnerability affecting fleetdm's open-source device management software, fleet, specifically versions prior to 4.13 that utilize the teams feature with restricted team accounts. Fleet is built on osquery and is used for managing and monitoring devices across an organization. The vulnerability arises from improper access control (CWE-284) and incorrect authorization (CWE-863) in the handling of team roles. In affected versions, a user with team admin privileges can exploit this flaw to escalate their permissions by adding themselves as an admin, maintainer, or observer on other teams without proper authorization. This bypass undermines the intended access restrictions between teams, potentially allowing unauthorized access to sensitive device management functions and data across multiple teams within the fleet instance. Notably, fleet instances that do not use the teams feature or do not have restricted team accounts are not vulnerable. There are currently no known workarounds, and the vendor recommends upgrading to version 4.13 or later to remediate the issue. No public exploits have been reported in the wild as of the publication date, but the flaw presents a risk of privilege escalation within affected deployments.

For European organizations using fleet with the teams feature and restricted team accounts, this vulnerability could lead to unauthorized privilege escalation within their device management infrastructure. An attacker or malicious insider with team admin rights could gain access to other teams' devices and data, potentially compromising confidentiality and integrity of sensitive information. This could facilitate lateral movement, unauthorized device control, or data exfiltration. The impact is particularly significant for organizations with segmented teams managing critical or sensitive endpoints, such as financial institutions, healthcare providers, or government agencies. Although the vulnerability does not directly allow external remote exploitation without initial access, the compromised internal access control can weaken overall security posture and increase risk of insider threats or post-compromise escalation. Availability impact is limited but could occur if unauthorized users disrupt device management operations. The absence of known exploits reduces immediate risk, but the vulnerability remains a concern for organizations relying on fleet for device management.

The primary mitigation is to upgrade all fleet instances to version 4.13 or later, where the authorization bypass has been fixed. Since no workarounds exist, timely patching is critical. Organizations should audit current fleet deployments to identify usage of the teams feature with restricted team accounts and prioritize these for upgrade. Additionally, organizations should review team admin assignments to ensure only trusted personnel have such privileges, minimizing the risk of insider exploitation. Implementing strict role-based access controls and monitoring administrative actions within fleet can help detect suspicious privilege escalations. Network segmentation and limiting access to fleet management interfaces to trusted networks and users can reduce exposure. Regularly reviewing fleet logs for anomalous team membership changes or privilege escalations is recommended. Finally, integrating fleet management with centralized identity and access management solutions can enhance oversight and control over user permissions.