Описание
RustFS has IAM Incorrect Authorization in ImportIam that Allows Privilege Escalation
Summary
The ImportIam admin API validates permissions using ExportIAMAction instead of ImportIAMAction, allowing a principal with export-only IAM permissions to perform import operations. Since importing IAM data performs privileged write actions (creating/updating users, groups, policies, and service accounts), this can lead to unauthorized IAM modification and privilege escalation.
Details
In ImportIam, the authorization check is implemented as follows:
However, this code resides in the Import IAM operation (struct ImportIam {}), which performs state-changing IAM writes.
The expected behavior is to validate against AdminAction::ImportIAMAction (or an equivalent import-specific admin action), not ExportIAMAction.
PoC
Prerequisites
- A RustFS deployment with IAM enabled.
- An IAM user or role that has Export IAM permission but does not have Import IAM or full admin permissions.
- Access credentials for that user.
Steps
-
Create or obtain an IAM principal with permission equivalent to:
AdminAction::ExportIAMActionand without Import IAM privileges.
-
Prepare a valid IAM import ZIP archive containing, for example:
- A new policy granting administrative permissions
- A user or service account bound to that policy
-
Send a request to the Import IAM endpoint (the same endpoint handled by
ImportIam::call), authenticating with the export-only credentials. -
Observe that:
- The request passes authorization.
- IAM entities from the archive are created or modified successfully.
Expected Result
- The request should be rejected with an authorization error (e.g., AccessDenied).
Actual Result
- The request succeeds, and IAM state is modified.
Пакеты
rustfs
< 1.0.0-alpha.79
1.0.0-alpha.79
Связанные уязвимости
RustFS is a distributed object storage system built in Rust. Prior to version 1.0.0-alpha.79, he `ImportIam` admin API validates permissions using `ExportIAMAction` instead of `ImportIAMAction`, allowing a principal with export-only IAM permissions to perform import operations. Since importing IAM data performs privileged write actions (creating/updating users, groups, policies, and service accounts), this can lead to unauthorized IAM modification and privilege escalation. Version 1.0.0-alpha.79 fixes the issue.