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MEDIUM

GHSA-qc2q-p7wx-3px3

gRPC-Go: xDS RBAC HTTP Filter bypass via mixed-case Header Matching and gRFC A41 validation evasion

Quick fix

GHSA-qc2q-p7wx-3px3 — google.golang.org/grpc: upgrade to the fixed version with the command below.

go get google.golang.org/grpc@v1.83.1

Details

### Summary A vulnerability in the xDS RBAC HTTP filter implementation in grpc-go allows remote attackers to bypass authorization policies (specifically DENY rules) by using mixed-case or canonical-case header matchers (e.g., X-Role instead of x-role). Additionally, the safety guards introduced by gRFC A41 to block grpc- prefixed headers can be evaded via variations in casing (e.g., Grpc-Status).

### Impact When an operator defines an RBAC policy referencing headers containing uppercase letters (e.g. X-Role), grpc-go fails to match incoming metadata keys because they are unconditionally lowercased. Because of this case-sensitivity mismatch, a policy designed to block requests containing specific header values fails open: the rule is evaluated as a non-match, and traffic that should have been rejected is served.

Furthermore, gRFC A41 requires rejecting configuration schemas specifying header matchers starting with grpc-. Because this check is executed case-sensitively in grpc-go, attackers can bypass the validation by specifying titles like Grpc-Status.

### Patches The problem is fixed in `master` and in the 1.83.1 release.

Are you affected?

Enter the version of the package you're using.

Affected packages

Go/google.golang.org/grpc
Introduced in: 0Fixed in: 1.83.1
Fixgo get google.golang.org/grpc@v1.83.1

References