CVE-2024-52008 - Critical Weak Password Vulnerability in Fides User Invite API

Fides is a popular open-source privacy engineering platform, widely praised for helping organizations automate and manage privacy operations. In June 2024, a serious security issue was discovered affecting how Fides handles new user invites—a flaw tracked as CVE-2024-52008.

In this post, we’ll break down what the vulnerability is, show you real code examples, walk through how an attacker could exploit it, and provide resources for fixing your Fides install.

Vulnerability Overview

Fides lets admins invite new users by email. Those users get a special link, set a password, and complete account setup. The website _looks_ secure because it asks for a strong password—like at least eight characters, a capital letter, a number, and a symbol.

However, that’s only on the webpage. The check happens in the browser (the “client-side”), not on Fides's server (the “server-side”). This means if someone uses the invite link directly with an API tool (like curl or Postman), they can set a password as simple as just the letter "a".

> Anyone invited to Fides can use the API to choose an extremely weak password—making their account an easy target for attackers.

This vulnerability was patched in version 2.50. of Fides.

Admin invites a new user (e.g., bob@example.com).

2. Bob receives the Fides invite email. The link in the email points to a wizard page asking him to set a strong password (enforced _only_ in the browser).
3. Instead of using the web interface, Bob (or anyone who gets the invite link) makes a direct HTTP POST request to Fides’s API endpoint /api/v1/user/accept-invite, setting any password they want—even just 'a'.

API Exploit Example

Below is a real-world demonstration using curl. (Please use this info only for ethical testing of your own systems.)

Suppose the invite link contains a special token like eyJhbGc.... This token is required for password setup.

curl -X POST https://your-fides-server.example.com/api/v1/user/accept-invite \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "invite_token": "eyJhbGc...",
    "password": "a"
  }'

This request will successfully set the new user's password to "a"—no matter the organization’s password policy.

Why Is This Bad?

A password like "a" or "password" can be cracked in milliseconds. Attackers could easily guess or brute-force these accounts, especially if they get a list of emails who have been invited. Because this happens _during account creation_, affected accounts may never know their credentials were weak.

Is This Fixed?

Yes. The Fides project patched this issue in version 2.50.. The fix adds server-side password complexity checks to /api/v1/user/accept-invite, matching the web interface rules.

> If you use Fides, upgrade to at least 2.50. immediately.

There is no workaround, configuration change, or mitigation for older versions. You _must_ upgrade.

References

- GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2024-52008
- Fides Release Notes (2.50.)
- Fides Documentation

Conclusion

CVE-2024-52008 exposes Fides users to serious risks if not patched promptly. Because the problem allows initial accounts to be created with weak passwords, even after deployment, always verify your Fides version is up to date, and remind users to reset their passwords after the upgrade.

Stay safe—and spread the word to anyone you know using Fides!


> _Disclaimer: This information is intended for defensive and educational use only. Do not use these details to attack systems without permission._

Timeline

Published on: 11/26/2024 19:15:29 UTC