# CVE-2018-3822: Auth bypass in X-Pack Security

> Attackers can impersonate legitimate users via SAML identifier suffix collisions if self-registration is enabled, requiring specific IdP configurations.

- **Severity:** Critical 9.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 30 Mar 2018
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-8x5v-8988-73v9

## What is CVE-2018-3822?

CVE-2018-3822 is a critical authentication bypass vulnerability in Elastic X-Pack Security, published on 30 Mar 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

X-Pack Security versions 6.2.0, 6.2.1, and 6.2.2 are vulnerable to a user impersonation attack via incorrect XML canonicalization and DOM traversal. An attacker might have been able to impersonate a legitimate user if the SAML Identity Provider allows for self registration with arbitrary identifiers and the attacker can register an account which an identifier that shares a suffix with a legitimate account. Both of those conditions must be true in order to exploit this flaw.

Weakness: CWE-22 (Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory), CWE-287 (Improper Authentication)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-3822?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Elastic X-Pack.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-3822?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-3822 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-3822 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-3822 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Elastic X-Pack Security

- [CVE-2017-8448](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-8448/): Privilege escalation in Elastic X-Pack Alerting (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2017-8438](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-8438/): Privilege escalation in X-Pack Security (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2017-8450](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-8450/): Missing authorization in Elastic X-Pack Security (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2017-8447](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-8447/): Privilege escalation in Elastic X-Pack Security (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2017-8442](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-8442/): Information disclosure in Elasticsearch X-Pack Security (medium 6.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-3822 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-3822 is a critical authentication bypass vulnerability in Elastic X-Pack Security, published on 30 Mar 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-3822 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Elastic X-Pack Security. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-3822/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-3822/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-3822
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-3822
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-3822

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-3822/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.