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Google OAuth Vulnerability Exposes Millions via Failed Startup Domains

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New analysis has pulled again the curtain on a “deficiency” in Google’s “Register with Google” authentication circulation that exploits a quirk in area possession to achieve entry to delicate information.

“Google’s OAuth login would not defend towards somebody buying a failed startup’s area and utilizing it to re-create e-mail accounts for former workers,” Truffle Safety co-founder and CEO Dylan Ayrey stated in a Monday report.

“And when you cannot entry outdated e-mail information, you should utilize these accounts to log into all of the completely different SaaS merchandise that the group used.”

The San Francisco-based firm stated the problem has the potential to place thousands and thousands of American customers’ information in danger just by buying a defunct area related to a failed startup and gaining unauthorized entry to outdated worker accounts associated to numerous purposes like OpenAI ChatGPT, Slack, Notion, Zoom, and even HR programs.

“Essentially the most delicate accounts included HR programs, which contained tax paperwork, pay stubs, insurance coverage info, social safety numbers, and extra,” Ayrey stated. “Interview platforms additionally contained delicate details about candidate suggestions, provides, and rejections.”

OAuth, quick for open authorization, refers to an open customary for entry delegation, permitting customers to grant web sites or purposes entry to their info on different web sites with out having to provide their passwords. That is achieved by making use of an entry token to confirm the consumer’s identification and permit the service to entry the useful resource the token is meant for.

Google OAuth Vulnerability

When “Register with Google” is used to sign up to an utility resembling Slack, Google sends the service a set of claims in regards to the consumer, together with their e-mail deal with and the hosted area, which may then be utilized to log customers into their accounts.

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This additionally implies that if a service is solely counting on these items of data to authenticate customers, it additionally opens the door to a state of affairs the place area possession adjustments may enable an attacker to regain entry to outdated worker accounts.

Truffle additionally identified Google’s OAuth ID token features a distinctive consumer identifier – the sub declare – that would theoretically forestall the issue, however that has been discovered to be unreliable. It is price noting that Microsoft’s Entra ID tokens embrace the sub or oid claims to retailer an immutable worth per consumer.

Whereas Google initially responded to the vulnerability disclosure by stating that it’s supposed habits, it has since re-opened the bug report as of December 19, 2024, awarding Ayrey a bounty of $1,337. It has additionally certified the problem as an “abuse-related methodology with excessive impression.”

Within the meantime, there are not any protections that downstream software program suppliers can take to guard towards the vulnerability in Google’s OAuth implementation. The Hacker Information has reached out to Google for additional remark, and we’ll replace the story if we hear again.

“As a person, as soon as you’ve got been off-boarded from a startup, you lose your means to guard your information in these accounts, and you might be topic to no matter destiny befalls the way forward for the startup and area,” Ayrey stated. “With out immutable identifiers for customers and workspaces, area possession adjustments will proceed to compromise accounts.”

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