Azure Functions weakness allows privilege escalation

A vulnerability in Microsoft’s Azure Functions cloud container dubbed “Royal Flush” by Intezer researchers could potentially allow threat actors to escalate privileges and escape the container, according to Threatpost. Researchers discovered that while the –privileged Docker flag enabled in Azure Functions containers allows sharing of device files in the /dev directory between the container guest and the Docker host, the devices also have read-write permissions for “others.” That may potentially allow an attacker to gain privileges to perform unauthorized actions such as reading files from the file system and, if able to reach root privilege, use one of various Docker escape methods to escape to the Docker host. In their analysis, the researchers demonstrated their use of the Debugfs utility on a local test container to traverse the Azure Functions file system, directly edit files inside and instigate a “preload-hijack” prior to spreading malicious code on the Docker host. Microsoft Security Response Center has been informed of the vulnerability but determined that it “has no security impact on Azure Functions users” and will not release a patch, though the researchers stressed the vulnerability could still pose a danger when exploited by an advanced attacker.