Privilege Escalation in Quest Bot AutoRole Feature

Executive Summary

This vulnerability exists in the Quest Bot, an open-source Discord bot used for moderation and utilities. Before version 1.0.3, a user who has the Manage Server (ManageGuild) permission but does not have Manage Roles or Administrator permissions can exploit the bot's AutoRole feature.

The issue arises because the AutoRole command only checks if the user has ManageGuild permission, not whether they are allowed to assign the specific role selected. If the attacker selects a role that has Administrator permissions and that role is below the bot's highest role, they can join the server with a controlled account and automatically receive full server administrator privileges.

This allows the attacker to take over the server, access private channels, modify settings, manage roles, ban members, and maintain persistent access. The vulnerability was patched in version 1.0.3 of Quest Bot.

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Impact Analysis

If exploited, this vulnerability allows an attacker with Manage Server permissions to escalate their privileges to full server administrator by assigning themselves or controlled accounts the Administrator role.

• Full server takeover by the attacker.
• Access to private channels and sensitive information.
• Ability to modify server settings and manage roles.
• Potential to ban legitimate members and disrupt server operations.
• Persistence of unauthorized access, making recovery difficult.

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Detection Guidance

This vulnerability can be detected by checking if any user with the ManageGuild permission but without Manage Roles or Administrator permissions has configured the AutoRole feature to assign roles with Administrator privileges.

You can audit the roles assigned automatically by the bot and verify if any assigned role has Administrator permissions and is below the bot's highest role.

Since this is a Discord bot vulnerability, detection involves inspecting the bot's configuration and permissions within your Discord server rather than network commands.

• Review users with ManageGuild permission but lacking Manage Roles or Administrator.
• Check the AutoRole configuration for roles assigned to new members.
• Verify if any AutoRole assigned roles have Administrator permissions.

No specific network or system commands are provided in the available resources for detecting this vulnerability.

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Mitigation Strategies

The immediate mitigation step is to upgrade Quest Bot to version 1.0.3 or later, where this vulnerability has been patched.

Additionally, review and restrict the permissions of users who have ManageGuild permission to ensure they do not have the ability to assign roles with Administrator privileges via the AutoRole feature.

Temporarily disable the AutoRole feature if upgrading immediately is not possible, to prevent automatic assignment of privileged roles.

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Compliance Impact

The vulnerability allows an attacker to gain full server administrator privileges, enabling them to access private channels, modify settings, manage roles, ban members, and maintain persistent access.

Such unauthorized access and control over server data and user information could lead to violations of data protection standards and regulations like GDPR and HIPAA, which require strict access controls and protection of personal data.

Therefore, exploitation of this vulnerability could compromise compliance with these regulations by exposing sensitive information and failing to enforce proper privilege restrictions.

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