Summary
PowerSYSTEM Center has an authorization flaw that may let a low-privileged authenticated user access resources intended for administrators. The risk arises when the application does not correctly enforce authorization checks on resource requests.
PowerSYSTEM Center has an authorization flaw that may let a low-privileged authenticated user access resources intended for administrators. The risk arises when the application does not correctly enforce authorization checks on resource requests.
Affected context
The issue occurs in PowerSYSTEM Center when requests for restricted resources are handled without effective authorization checks. Exploitation requires an authenticated account, but the description does not specify which resources or deployment configurations are affected.
The issue occurs in PowerSYSTEM Center when requests for restricted resources are handled without effective authorization checks. Exploitation requires an authenticated account, but the description does not specify which resources or deployment configurations are affected.
Exploit preconditions
- Attack surface: Authenticated access to PowerSYSTEM Center
- Required access: A low-privileged user account
- Trigger point: A request to access a resource normally limited to administrators
- Why exploitation is possible: Authorization controls may fail to verify that the authenticated user has the required privileges
- Attack surface: Authenticated access to PowerSYSTEM Center
- Required access: A low-privileged user account
- Trigger point: A request to access a resource normally limited to administrators
- Why exploitation is possible: Authorization controls may fail to verify that the authenticated user has the required privileges
Why this happens
The underlying issue is an authorization decision that does not reliably enforce access rules for protected resources. This maps to CWE-863: Incorrect Authorization, in which an application fails to correctly determine whether a user is permitted to perform an action or access a resource.
The underlying issue is an authorization decision that does not reliably enforce access rules for protected resources. This maps to CWE-863: Incorrect Authorization, in which an application fails to correctly determine whether a user is permitted to perform an action or access a resource.
Potential impact
- A low-privileged user may access administrator-restricted resources
- Sensitive information could be exposed, depending on the resources involved
- The flaw could undermine separation of duties within the application
- Further compromise may be possible if exposed resources enable additional actions
- A low-privileged user may access administrator-restricted resources
- Sensitive information could be exposed, depending on the resources involved
- The flaw could undermine separation of duties within the application
- Further compromise may be possible if exposed resources enable additional actions
General mitigation guidance
Mitigation generally focuses on enforcing authorization consistently at every protected resource boundary.
Common defensive patterns include:
- Applying server-side, deny-by-default authorization checks to each request
- Verifying permissions for the specific resource and action, rather than relying only on interface visibility
- Centralizing access-control policy to reduce inconsistent checks
- Limiting user privileges to the minimum required
- Reviewing and testing authorization behavior across roles and resource types
Mitigation generally focuses on enforcing authorization consistently at every protected resource boundary.
Common defensive patterns include:
- Applying server-side, deny-by-default authorization checks to each request
- Verifying permissions for the specific resource and action, rather than relying only on interface visibility
- Centralizing access-control policy to reduce inconsistent checks
- Limiting user privileges to the minimum required
- Reviewing and testing authorization behavior across roles and resource types
How teams detect issues like this
High-level detection approaches include:
- Reviewing code paths that retrieve or modify administrator-restricted resources for missing or inconsistent permission checks
- Using static analysis to flag endpoints that lack authorization enforcement
- Testing access-control behavior across user roles in security reviews and automated tests
- Monitoring for low-privileged accounts making requests to restricted resources
- Enforcing policy checks in code review and CI workflows
High-level detection approaches include:
- Reviewing code paths that retrieve or modify administrator-restricted resources for missing or inconsistent permission checks
- Using static analysis to flag endpoints that lack authorization enforcement
- Testing access-control behavior across user roles in security reviews and automated tests
- Monitoring for low-privileged accounts making requests to restricted resources
- Enforcing policy checks in code review and CI workflows
