CVE-2023-46742 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting CubeFS, an open-source cloud-native file storage system. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-532, which involves the insertion of sensitive information into log files. Specifically, versions of CubeFS prior to 3.3.1 improperly log users' secret keys and access keys across multiple components. When CubeFS creates new users, it logs the users' secret keys in plaintext within the system logs. This exposure allows any user with lower privileges but access to these logs to retrieve sensitive credentials. With these credentials, an attacker could impersonate users with higher privileges, potentially escalating their access and compromising the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the storage system. The vulnerability requires local access with some privileges (AV:L, PR:L), and user interaction is needed (UI:R) to trigger the logging event. The issue has been addressed in CubeFS version 3.3.1, and upgrading to this or later versions is the only effective mitigation. No known exploits are currently reported in the wild. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 4.8, reflecting a medium severity due to the limited attack vector (local access) and the requirement for user interaction, but the potential impact on sensitive key material is significant. This vulnerability highlights the risk of improper logging practices in cloud-native storage solutions, where sensitive credentials must be carefully protected to prevent privilege escalation and unauthorized access.

For European organizations using CubeFS versions prior to 3.3.1, this vulnerability poses a risk of unauthorized access and privilege escalation within their cloud-native storage environments. If an attacker gains access to logs containing secret and access keys, they could impersonate privileged users, leading to data breaches, unauthorized data modification, or service disruption. This could compromise sensitive business data, intellectual property, and customer information, potentially violating GDPR and other data protection regulations. The impact is particularly critical for organizations relying on CubeFS for multi-tenant or shared storage environments where log access might be granted to multiple users or administrators. The vulnerability could also undermine trust in cloud storage infrastructure and lead to financial and reputational damage. However, the requirement for local access and user interaction limits the ease of exploitation, reducing the likelihood of widespread automated attacks but not eliminating targeted insider threats or attacks leveraging compromised accounts.

The primary and only effective mitigation is to upgrade CubeFS to version 3.3.1 or later, where the logging of sensitive keys has been fixed. Organizations should audit their current CubeFS deployments to identify affected versions and plan immediate upgrades. Additionally, organizations should restrict access to CubeFS log files to only highly trusted administrators and implement strict access controls and monitoring on log access. Employing log management solutions that detect and alert on the presence of sensitive key material in logs can provide additional defense-in-depth. Regularly reviewing and sanitizing logs to remove sensitive information is recommended. Organizations should also conduct internal security awareness training to minimize risky user interactions that might trigger logging of sensitive data. Finally, implementing strong authentication and authorization controls around CubeFS management interfaces will reduce the risk of unauthorized local access required to exploit this vulnerability.