CVE-2023-4320 is a vulnerability identified in Red Hat Satellite 6.15 running on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8. The root cause is an arithmetic overflow during the creation of personal access tokens (PATs). This overflow allows an attacker who can create PATs to bypass the intended expiration mechanism, resulting in tokens that remain valid indefinitely. Such tokens can be used to maintain persistent access to the system, undermining the integrity of the managed infrastructure. The vulnerability requires the attacker to have low-level privileges to create tokens but does not require user interaction, making remote exploitation feasible over the network. The CVSS v3.1 score of 7.6 reflects high severity due to the ease of exploitation (low attack complexity), network vector, and significant impact on integrity and confidentiality. While availability impact is low, the indefinite token validity can lead to prolonged unauthorized access, increasing the risk of further compromise. No public exploits have been reported yet, but the vulnerability's nature makes it a critical concern for organizations relying on Red Hat Satellite for lifecycle management of RHEL systems. The flaw highlights the importance of secure token lifecycle management and proper validation of arithmetic operations in security-critical code paths.

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2023-4320 is substantial, particularly for enterprises and government agencies that depend on Red Hat Satellite for managing large-scale RHEL deployments. Indefinitely valid personal access tokens can allow attackers to maintain persistent, unauthorized access to critical infrastructure management systems, potentially leading to unauthorized configuration changes, data exposure, or lateral movement within networks. This undermines system integrity and confidentiality, increasing the risk of data breaches or operational disruptions. The vulnerability could also affect compliance with European data protection regulations such as GDPR if unauthorized access leads to personal data exposure. Organizations in sectors like finance, telecommunications, public administration, and critical infrastructure, which heavily utilize Red Hat Satellite, face heightened risks. The absence of known exploits currently provides a window for proactive mitigation, but the potential for future exploitation necessitates urgent attention.

1. Monitor Red Hat’s official security advisories and apply patches or updates for Red Hat Satellite 6.15 as soon as they become available to address CVE-2023-4320. 2. Conduct an immediate audit of all existing personal access tokens within Red Hat Satellite environments to identify any tokens with abnormally long or indefinite expiration periods and revoke suspicious tokens. 3. Restrict the ability to create personal access tokens to only trusted administrators and enforce strict role-based access controls (RBAC) to minimize the risk of token misuse. 4. Implement enhanced logging and monitoring of token creation and usage activities to detect anomalous behavior indicative of exploitation attempts. 5. Consider integrating multi-factor authentication (MFA) for access to Red Hat Satellite management interfaces to add an additional security layer. 6. Review and harden network access controls to limit exposure of Red Hat Satellite servers to only necessary management networks and trusted IP ranges. 7. Educate system administrators about the risks associated with indefinite token validity and the importance of timely token revocation and rotation.