# CVE-2023-32696: Excessive permissions for ckan user

> The CKAN Docker container's user had excessive sudo permissions, allowing privilege escalation and code execution if an arbitrary file write vulnerability existed.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 30 May 2023
- **Updated:** 9 Jan 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-c74x-xfvr-x5wg

## What is CVE-2023-32696?

CVE-2023-32696 is a high-severity vulnerability in ckan-docker-base, published on 30 May 2023. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

CKAN is an open-source data management system for powering data hubs and data portals. Prior to versions 2.9.9 and 2.10.1, the `ckan` user (equivalent to www-data) owned code and configuration files in the docker container and the `ckan` user had the permissions to use sudo. These issues allowed for code execution or privilege escalation if an arbitrary file write bug was available. Versions 2.9.9, 2.9.9-dev, 2.10.1, and 2.10.1-dev contain a patch.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-32696?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Okfn Ckan.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-32696?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-32696 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-32696 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-32696 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in ckan-docker-base

- [CVE-2023-32321](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-32321/): CKAN remote code execution and private information access via crafted resource ids (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2022-43685](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-43685/): CKAN contains Improper Authentication leading to account takeover (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2023-22746](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-22746/): CKAN is vulnerable to session secret shared across instances using Docker images (high 8.6)
- [CVE-2026-42031](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-42031/): CKAN: Unauthenticated SQL Injection and Authorization Bypass in `datastore_search_sql` (high 8.3)
- [CVE-2024-41675](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-41675/): CKAN has a Cross-site Scripting vector in the Datatables view plugin (medium 6.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-32696 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-32696 is a high-severity vulnerability in ckan-docker-base, published on 30 May 2023. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-32696 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: ckan-docker-base. 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-2023-32696/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-32696/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-32696
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-32696
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-32696

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-32696/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.