SAINTCON 2023 - Micheal Cottingham - Exploiting Chef

Discover the vulnerabilities of Chef and the ways to exploit them for penetration testing and red teaming, covering data bags, node keys, and supply chain attacks.

Key takeaways
  • Exploiting Chef involves accessing and manipulating encrypted data bags and node keys
  • Chef’s bootstrap process is vulnerable to exploitation, allowing access to sensitive data
  • Validator-less bootstrapping can be used to gain access to Chef without authentication
  • Red teaming and pen testing should focus on supply chain and process vulnerabilities, as well as exploiting misconfigured Chef instances
  • Encrypted data bags can be decrypted using private keys, allowing access to sensitive information
  • Chef’s convergence process can be manipulated to gain unauthorized access to nodes
  • Node certificates can be used to bootstrap nodes and gain access to Chef
  • Validator certificates can be used to authenticate and authorize access to Chef
  • Supply chain issues are a major concern, and organizations should prioritize securing their processes
  • Chef’s client runs every 30 minutes by default, and can be configured to run more frequently
  • Run lists can be used to manage nodes and deploy software
  • Data bags can be used to store and manage sensitive data
  • Node keys can be used to encrypt and decrypt data bags
  • Chef workstation is a tool used to manage and deploy Chef configurations
  • Supply chain attacks can be used to gain access to sensitive information and systems
  • Encryption should be used to protect sensitive information and prevent unauthorized access
  • Validation of certificates and keys is critical to preventing unauthorized access to Chef