CVE-2024-23685 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting mod-remote-storage versions prior to 1.7.2 and versions from 2.0.0 up to 2.0.3. The root cause is the presence of hard-coded credentials embedded within the software. These credentials allow unauthorized users to gain read-only access to sensitive data stored in the mod-inventory-storage module. Specifically, attackers can access records including instances, holdings, items, contributor-types, and identifier-types. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-798, which refers to the use of hard-coded credentials, a well-known security weakness that can lead to unauthorized access. The CVSS 3.1 base score is 5.3, indicating a medium impact, with the vector showing that the attack can be performed remotely over the network without any privileges or user interaction (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N). The scope is unchanged, and the impact is limited to confidentiality (C:L), with no impact on integrity or availability. No known exploits are currently reported in the wild, and no official patches have been linked yet. The vulnerability allows attackers to bypass authentication mechanisms by leveraging the embedded credentials, potentially exposing sensitive inventory data that could be used for further reconnaissance or targeted attacks.

For European organizations using affected versions of mod-remote-storage, this vulnerability poses a risk of unauthorized disclosure of inventory-related data. Such data may include detailed records of physical or digital assets, contributor information, and identifiers that could be sensitive or proprietary. Exposure of this information could facilitate further attacks, such as social engineering, targeted phishing, or supply chain attacks. Organizations in sectors like libraries, archives, museums, or any institution relying on mod-remote-storage for inventory management could be particularly impacted. While the vulnerability does not allow modification or deletion of data, the confidentiality breach alone can undermine trust, violate data protection regulations such as GDPR, and potentially lead to compliance penalties. The ease of exploitation (no authentication or user interaction required) increases the risk, especially if the affected services are exposed to the internet or insufficiently segmented within internal networks.

Organizations should immediately identify if they are running vulnerable versions of mod-remote-storage (versions below 1.7.2 or between 2.0.0 and 2.0.3). Since no official patches are linked yet, temporary mitigations include restricting network access to the mod-remote-storage service to trusted internal IPs only and implementing strict firewall rules to prevent unauthorized external access. Additionally, organizations should audit their deployment configurations to detect and remove any hard-coded credentials, replacing them with secure, dynamically managed secrets stored in vaults or environment variables. Monitoring and logging access to mod-inventory-storage should be enhanced to detect any unusual read operations. If possible, upgrading to a non-vulnerable version (1.7.2 or above 2.0.3) once patches are available is strongly recommended. Finally, organizations should review their inventory data classification and ensure sensitive information is encrypted at rest and in transit to minimize exposure.