Hail authentication can be bypassed by changing email address
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · Low
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and GitHub.
Summary
Hail is an open-source, general-purpose, Python-based data analysis tool with additional data types and methods for working with genomic data. Hail relies on OpenID Connect (OIDC) email addresses from ID tokens to verify the validity of a user's domain, but because users have the ability to change their email address, they could create accounts and use resources in clusters that they should not have access to. For example, a user could create a Microsoft or Google account and then change their email to `[email protected]`. This account can then be used to create a Hail Batch account in Hail Batch clusters whose organization domain is `example.org`. The attacker is not able to access private data or impersonate another user, but they would have the ability to run jobs if Hail Batch billing projects are enabled and create Azure Tenants if they have Azure Active Directory Administrator access.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- Yes
- Technical impact
- Total
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| hail-is | hail | before 0.2.127 | 0.2.127 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | hail (PyPI) | before 0.2.127 | 0.2.127 | Patch available | GHSA-487p-qx68-5vjw |
- hail Vendorhail-is Affected before 0.2.127 Fixed in 0.2.127 Patch available CNA
- hail (PyPI) Vendor— Affected before 0.2.127 Fixed in 0.2.127 Patch available GHSA-487p-qx68-5vjw
Remediation
- Fix · CNA hail (hail-is) Fixed in 0.2.127
- Fix · GHSA-487p-qx68-5vjw hail (PyPI) Fixed in 0.2.127 Advisory →
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2023-51663
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-487p-qx68-5vjw
References
Advisory 2
Sources
- CVE-2023-51663 · CVE Program
- CVE-2023-51663 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-487p-qx68-5vjw · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences