Azure Sphere Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Vulnerability

The vulnerability resides in the Capability access control functionality of Microsoft Azure Sphere version 20.06. It is an improper access control issue (CWE-284) that allows manipulation of the azure_sphere_task_cred structure through ptrace syscalls, enabling an attacker to acquire elevated capabilities [1].

Exploitation

An attacker with local access to a device running Azure Sphere 20.06 can exploit this vulnerability by writing a shellcode and then issuing a set of specially crafted ptrace syscalls. No authentication or user interaction is required, but the attacker must have the ability to execute code on the device [1].

Impact

Successful exploitation results in elevation of privilege, granting the attacker the same capabilities as the application manager, leading to high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability (CVSS 8.1) [1].

Mitigation

The vulnerability is confirmed in Azure Sphere 20.06. No fix is disclosed in the available reference [1]. Microsoft typically provides updates for Azure Sphere; users should apply the latest available update or restrict local access to mitigate risk.