Affected: Apache Software Foundation Apache Superset

Improper authorization check and possible privilege escalation on Apache Superset up to but excluding 2.1.2. Using the default examples database connection that allows access to both the examples schema and Apache Superset's metadata database, an attacker using a specially crafted CTE SQL statement could change data on the metadata database. This weakness could result on tampering with the authentication/authorization data.

Affected: PyPI: apache-superset

### Overview An attacker with access to the SQL Lab and the ab_user and ab_user_role tables can elevate his privileges to become administrator.

### Details On a more general level, diverse tables who are supposed to be only readable can be modified using the WITH … AS and RETURNING keywords. Modification of the table key_value can also be done, which could lead to a Remote Code Execution (cf. "V7 - Insecure deserialization leading to remote code execution" report vulnerability).

### Proof of Concept Some tables are supposed to accept only SELECT requests from the SQL tab. - Attempt to create a new user injected_admin into the ab_user table: [PoC_1](https://github.com/orangecertcc/security-research/blob/main/CVE-2023-40610/PoC_1.png)

But this protection can be bypassed by using the WITH … AS () syntax with RETURNING value after the INSERT / UPDATE / DELETE query. INSERT query accepted by the database due to the use of WITH … AS ( … RETURNING ) syntax: WITH a AS ( INSERT INTO ab_user (id, first_name, last_name, username, email, password) VALUES (2, ‘injected_admin’, ‘injected_admin’, ‘injected_admin’, ‘injected_admin@gmail.com’, ‘{PASSWORD_HASH}’) RETURNING id ) SELECT * FROM a; [PoC_2](https://github.com/orangecertcc/security-research/blob/main/CVE-2023-40610/PoC_2.png) - injected_admin added to the ab_user table: [PoC_3](https://github.com/orangecertcc/security-research/blob/main/CVE-2023-40610/PoC_3.png)

This method can also be used with UPDATE or DELETE request.…