CVE-2022-31008 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting RabbitMQ server versions prior to 3.8.32, versions from 3.9.0 up to but not including 3.9.18, and versions from 3.10.0 up to but not including 3.10.2. RabbitMQ is a widely used multi-protocol messaging and streaming broker employed in distributed systems for reliable message queuing and streaming. The vulnerability resides in the Shovel and Federation plugins, which are responsible for transferring messages between RabbitMQ nodes or clusters. These plugins perform URI obfuscation by encrypting URIs in their worker (link) state. However, the encryption key used for this obfuscation was seeded with a predictable secret rather than a sufficiently random or cluster-wide secret. This predictable seeding leads to insufficient randomness in the encryption key, classified under CWE-330 (Use of Insufficiently Random Values). As a result, in certain exception scenarios related to these plugins, the obfuscated data can be deobfuscated relatively easily by an attacker who has access to the node logs where this data may appear. This could expose sensitive information such as URIs used in the federation or shovel links, potentially revealing internal network topology or credentials embedded in URIs. The issue has been addressed in patched versions 3.8.32, 3.9.18, and 3.10.2, where a cluster-wide secret is used to seed the encryption key, ensuring proper randomness and preventing easy deobfuscation. For users unable to upgrade, disabling the Shovel and Federation plugins is recommended to mitigate exposure. There are no known exploits in the wild at this time, and exploitation requires access to RabbitMQ node logs, which typically implies some level of system access or insider threat. No authentication bypass or remote code execution is involved, but the leakage of sensitive configuration data could facilitate further attacks or reconnaissance.

For European organizations, the impact of this vulnerability primarily concerns confidentiality. Exposure of obfuscated URIs in logs could reveal sensitive internal network information, including connection endpoints and potentially embedded credentials used by the Shovel and Federation plugins. This information leakage could aid attackers in lateral movement, reconnaissance, or targeted attacks against messaging infrastructure. The integrity and availability of RabbitMQ services are not directly affected by this vulnerability. However, RabbitMQ is often a critical component in enterprise messaging and streaming architectures, including financial services, telecommunications, and industrial control systems prevalent in Europe. Leakage of internal configuration details could increase the risk profile of these systems. Organizations with strict data protection regulations, such as GDPR, may face compliance risks if sensitive information is exposed. Since exploitation requires access to node logs, the threat is higher in environments where log access is not tightly controlled or where insider threats are a concern. The vulnerability does not enable remote exploitation without prior access, limiting its impact to scenarios where attackers have already penetrated internal networks or systems.

1. Upgrade RabbitMQ to the patched versions 3.8.32, 3.9.18, or 3.10.2 as soon as possible to ensure the use of a cluster-wide secret for URI obfuscation. 2. If immediate upgrading is not feasible, disable the Shovel and Federation plugins to prevent the vulnerable obfuscation mechanism from being used. 3. Restrict access to RabbitMQ node logs to authorized personnel only, implementing strict access controls and monitoring to detect unauthorized access attempts. 4. Implement log management solutions that can redact or encrypt sensitive log entries to prevent leakage of obfuscated URIs. 5. Conduct internal audits to identify any usage of the Shovel and Federation plugins and assess exposure risk. 6. Monitor RabbitMQ logs and system behavior for unusual access patterns or attempts to read logs, which could indicate exploitation attempts. 7. Incorporate this vulnerability into incident response plans, emphasizing the importance of protecting log files and internal messaging infrastructure. 8. For organizations using RabbitMQ in critical environments, consider network segmentation to limit access to RabbitMQ nodes and their logs. 9. Educate system administrators and DevOps teams about the risks associated with insufficiently random encryption keys and the importance of timely patching.