GHSA-8MXV-9XHP-86H4
Vulnerability from github – Published: 2026-08-05 20:27 – Updated: 2026-08-05 20:271. Summary
The S3 redirect callback strips X-Amz-Security-Token when a redirect changes scheme or host, but it does not strip IBM IAM bearer authorization or customer-provided encryption keys. Two independently validated paths remain:
- a same-host HTTPS-to-HTTP redirect preserves
Authorization: Bearer ...and exposes a reusable IBM IAM token to the plaintext network path; - a cross-origin redirect preserves SSE-C and copy-source SSE-C key headers.
The High rating is driven by the reusable IBM IAM bearer token. The SSE-C cross-origin disclosure is a secondary confidentiality issue. The meaningful threat is a trusted endpoint, gateway, or accelerator that emits an unsafe redirect, followed by an adjacent/on-path observer; describing the originally configured endpoint itself as the attacker would be weak because that endpoint already receives the request secrets.
2. Affected Assets & Attack Surface
- S3 redirect policy:
backend/s3/s3.go:1345-1379 - IBM IAM signer:
backend/s3/ibm_signer.go:28-40 - SSE-C key preparation:
backend/s3/s3.go:1821-1837 - Affected operations: requests carrying IBM IAM authorization, SSE-C keys, or copy-source SSE-C keys
- Confirmed affected version:
<= v1.74.0-240-ga0c09f138
3. Technical Root Cause Analysis
s3CheckRedirect applies a one-header denylist:
if s3RedirectCrossesHost(req, via) {
req.Header.Del("X-Amz-Security-Token")
}
Go removes Authorization on some hostname changes, but preserves it for a same-host redirect and does not treat a scheme downgrade as sufficient reason to remove it. Go also has no generic knowledge that the SSE-C headers contain raw encryption keys. The rclone callback recognizes the STS token but not these additional origin-bound secrets.
4. Proof-of-Concept & Evidence
Using the actual redirect callback:
- An HTTPS endpoint redirected to HTTP on the same hostname.
- The plaintext destination received the planted IBM bearer token and SSE-C headers.
- A separate redirect to an unrelated hostname caused Go to remove
Authorization, but the destination still received both SSE-C key headers. - In both cases, rclone removed the planted STS token, proving that the S3-specific callback executed while omitting the other secret classes.
The related GHSA-gx4c-2hqx-cw2r covers the STS downgrade path and confirms that rclone treats scheme changes as a credential boundary. It does not cover the IBM bearer or SSE-C variants retained here.
5. Impact Assessment
A captured IBM bearer token can authorize reads, writes, and deletes within its IAM scope. A disclosed SSE-C key can expose corresponding ciphertext available to the recipient; copy-source keys can expose protected source objects. The exact impact is limited by token policy and the attacker's access to encrypted objects.
6. Remediation Guidance
- Reject every HTTPS-to-HTTP redirect before replay.
- Do not automatically follow secret-bearing cross-origin redirects.
- On any scheme, host, or effective-port change, remove all authorization, cookies, session tokens, SSE-C fields, copy-source SSE-C fields, and provider-specific credentials.
- Where redirects are required, allowlist exact destinations and reconstruct/re-sign a new request.
- Add redirect tests for every secret header class and for scheme, hostname, subdomain, and port changes.
{
"affected": [
{
"database_specific": {
"last_known_affected_version_range": "\u003c= 1.74.0"
},
"package": {
"ecosystem": "Go",
"name": "github.com/rclone/rclone"
},
"ranges": [
{
"events": [
{
"introduced": "0"
},
{
"fixed": "1.75.0"
}
],
"type": "ECOSYSTEM"
}
]
}
],
"aliases": [],
"database_specific": {
"cwe_ids": [
"CWE-200",
"CWE-319",
"CWE-522"
],
"github_reviewed": true,
"github_reviewed_at": "2026-08-05T20:27:50Z",
"nvd_published_at": null,
"severity": "MODERATE"
},
"details": "## 1. Summary\n\nThe S3 redirect callback strips `X-Amz-Security-Token` when a redirect changes scheme or host, but it does not strip IBM IAM bearer authorization or customer-provided encryption keys. Two independently validated paths remain:\n\n- a same-host HTTPS-to-HTTP redirect preserves `Authorization: Bearer ...` and exposes a reusable IBM IAM token to the plaintext network path;\n- a cross-origin redirect preserves SSE-C and copy-source SSE-C key headers.\n\nThe High rating is driven by the reusable IBM IAM bearer token. The SSE-C cross-origin disclosure is a secondary confidentiality issue. The meaningful threat is a trusted endpoint, gateway, or accelerator that emits an unsafe redirect, followed by an adjacent/on-path observer; describing the originally configured endpoint itself as the attacker would be weak because that endpoint already receives the request secrets.\n\n## 2. Affected Assets \u0026 Attack Surface\n\n- S3 redirect policy: `backend/s3/s3.go:1345-1379`\n- IBM IAM signer: `backend/s3/ibm_signer.go:28-40`\n- SSE-C key preparation: `backend/s3/s3.go:1821-1837`\n- Affected operations: requests carrying IBM IAM authorization, SSE-C keys, or copy-source SSE-C keys\n- Confirmed affected version: `\u003c= v1.74.0-240-ga0c09f138`\n\n## 3. Technical Root Cause Analysis\n\n`s3CheckRedirect` applies a one-header denylist:\n\n```go\nif s3RedirectCrossesHost(req, via) {\n req.Header.Del(\"X-Amz-Security-Token\")\n}\n```\n\nGo removes `Authorization` on some hostname changes, but preserves it for a same-host redirect and does not treat a scheme downgrade as sufficient reason to remove it. Go also has no generic knowledge that the SSE-C headers contain raw encryption keys. The rclone callback recognizes the STS token but not these additional origin-bound secrets.\n\n## 4. Proof-of-Concept \u0026 Evidence\n\nUsing the actual redirect callback:\n\n1. An HTTPS endpoint redirected to HTTP on the same hostname.\n2. The plaintext destination received the planted IBM bearer token and SSE-C headers.\n3. A separate redirect to an unrelated hostname caused Go to remove `Authorization`, but the destination still received both SSE-C key headers.\n4. In both cases, rclone removed the planted STS token, proving that the S3-specific callback executed while omitting the other secret classes.\n\nThe related [GHSA-gx4c-2hqx-cw2r](https://github.com/rclone/rclone/security/advisories/GHSA-gx4c-2hqx-cw2r) covers the STS downgrade path and confirms that rclone treats scheme changes as a credential boundary. It does not cover the IBM bearer or SSE-C variants retained here.\n\n## 5. Impact Assessment\n\nA captured IBM bearer token can authorize reads, writes, and deletes within its IAM scope. A disclosed SSE-C key can expose corresponding ciphertext available to the recipient; copy-source keys can expose protected source objects. The exact impact is limited by token policy and the attacker\u0027s access to encrypted objects.\n\n## 6. Remediation Guidance\n\n- Reject every HTTPS-to-HTTP redirect before replay.\n- Do not automatically follow secret-bearing cross-origin redirects.\n- On any scheme, host, or effective-port change, remove all authorization, cookies, session tokens, SSE-C fields, copy-source SSE-C fields, and provider-specific credentials.\n- Where redirects are required, allowlist exact destinations and reconstruct/re-sign a new request.\n- Add redirect tests for every secret header class and for scheme, hostname, subdomain, and port changes.",
"id": "GHSA-8mxv-9xhp-86h4",
"modified": "2026-08-05T20:27:50Z",
"published": "2026-08-05T20:27:50Z",
"references": [
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://github.com/rclone/rclone/security/advisories/GHSA-8mxv-9xhp-86h4"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://github.com/rclone/rclone/commit/7543a7a87884aca957590b20b0714078d51af87b"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://github.com/rclone/rclone/commit/9328763d1b73db71e97c0332b19e3747abeb9191"
},
{
"type": "PACKAGE",
"url": "https://github.com/rclone/rclone"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://github.com/rclone/rclone/releases/tag/v1.75.0"
}
],
"schema_version": "1.4.0",
"severity": [
{
"score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N",
"type": "CVSS_V3"
}
],
"summary": "rclone: S3 Redirect Sanitization Omits IBM IAM Bearer Tokens and SSE-C Keys"
}
Sightings
| Author | Source | Type | Date | Other |
|---|
Nomenclature
- Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
- Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
- Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
- Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
- Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
- Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
- Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
- Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
The approach is described in our paper Mapping CVEs to MITRE ATT&CK Techniques: A Curated Gold-Set Classifier and the Limits of LLM-Assisted Label Expansion.