CVE-2023-27578 Galaxy vulnerable to unauthorized modification of pages/visualizations due to insufficient permission check

Critical 9.1 Published 20 Mar 2023 Updated 25 Feb 2025

Attackers can modify, delete, or copy Galaxy visualizations and pages without proper authorization if they know the encoded ID.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Not needed
Attackable: Over the internet
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: None listed

What is CVE-2023-27578?

CVE-2023-27578 is a critical missing authorization vulnerability in galaxyproject galaxy, published on 20 Mar 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

Galaxy is an open-source platform for data analysis. All supported versions of Galaxy are affected prior to 22.01, 22.05, and 23.0 are affected by an insufficient permission check. Unsupported versions are likely affected as far back as the functionality of Visualizations/Pages exists. Due to this issue, an attacker can modify or delete any Galaxy Visualization or Galaxy Page given they know the encoded ID of it. Additionally, they can copy or import any Galaxy Visualization given they know the encoded ID of it. Patches are available for versions 22.01, 22.05, and 23.0. For the changes to take effect, you must restart all Galaxy server processes. There are no supported workarounds.

Weakness: CWE-863, CWE-284

Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-27578?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Galaxyproject Galaxy.

How do I fix CVE-2023-27578?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-27578 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Upgrade, and check permissions on every request on the server, not only in the interface. More about Missing authorization.

Is CVE-2023-27578 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-27578 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Sources

Also known as GHSA-j8q2-r4g5-f22j.