CVE-2022-39201 is a vulnerability in Grafana, an open-source observability and data visualization platform widely used for monitoring and analytics. The flaw affects versions starting from 5.0.0-beta1 up to but not including 8.5.14, and versions from 9.0.0 up to but not including 9.1.8. The vulnerability arises from improper handling of authentication cookies in the context of data source and plugin proxy endpoints. Specifically, under certain conditions, a plugin acting as a destination for proxied requests can receive the authentication cookie of the logged-in Grafana user. This cookie contains sensitive session information that could allow unauthorized actors to impersonate the user or escalate privileges within the Grafana environment. The issue is classified under CWE-200, indicating exposure of sensitive information to unauthorized actors. The vulnerability does not require user interaction beyond normal plugin use, but exploitation depends on the presence of malicious or compromised plugins that can receive the leaked cookie. The flaw was patched in Grafana versions 8.5.14 and 9.1.8. No known workarounds exist, and no exploits have been reported in the wild to date. This vulnerability primarily impacts the confidentiality of user session data, potentially leading to unauthorized access to Grafana dashboards and underlying data sources if exploited.

For European organizations, the exposure of Grafana authentication cookies could lead to unauthorized access to critical monitoring dashboards and sensitive operational data. This could compromise the integrity and confidentiality of infrastructure monitoring, alerting, and analytics, potentially allowing attackers to manipulate or disable monitoring systems undetected. Organizations relying on Grafana for observability in sectors such as finance, energy, telecommunications, and government could face increased risk of espionage, data leakage, or disruption of critical services. The vulnerability could also facilitate lateral movement within networks if attackers leverage stolen session cookies to escalate privileges or access other connected systems. Given Grafana's widespread adoption in enterprise environments across Europe, the impact could be significant, especially in organizations that deploy third-party or custom plugins without strict vetting, increasing the risk of malicious plugin exploitation.

European organizations should immediately verify their Grafana versions and upgrade to 8.5.14 or 9.1.8 or later to apply the official patch. Since no workarounds exist, patching is the primary mitigation. Additionally, organizations should audit all installed plugins, removing or disabling any untrusted or unnecessary plugins, especially those that handle proxying or data source requests. Implement strict plugin governance policies, including code reviews and digital signature verification where possible, to prevent malicious plugins from being installed. Network segmentation should be enforced to limit plugin communication to only trusted endpoints. Monitoring and logging of plugin activity and authentication events should be enhanced to detect anomalous behavior indicative of cookie leakage or session hijacking attempts. Finally, consider implementing short session lifetimes and multi-factor authentication (MFA) for Grafana access to reduce the risk associated with stolen cookies.