Ethical Hacking News
Fluent Bit, an open-source log collection tool deployed across every major cloud and AI lab, has been found vulnerable to "trivial-to-exploit" flaws that can be used to bypass authentication, manipulate data, or cause remote code execution. This vulnerability highlights the importance of collaboration between maintainers, cloud providers, and security researchers in safeguarding against such threats.
Fluent Bit, a log collection tool used in cloud and AI labs, has 15 billion deployments across various platforms.A series of "trivial-to-exploit" vulnerabilities were discovered in Fluent Bit's plugin architecture by Oligo Security research team.The vulnerabilities include partial string comparison, improper input validation, path traversal, stack buffer overflow, and authentication bypass issues.These vulnerabilities can be exploited with relatively little technical knowledge, making them serious concerns.Oligo Security warned that chaining these flaws together can lead to severe security risks, including remote code execution and denial-of-service conditions.AWS has publicly acknowledged the discovery and collaborated with Oligo Security to fix the vulnerabilities in Fluent Bit v4.1.1.
The world of cloud computing has long been plagued by concerns about security, and recent discoveries have highlighted the importance of vigilance when it comes to protecting open-source tools used in these environments. At the heart of this vulnerability is Fluent Bit, a log collection tool that has been deployed in every major cloud and AI lab, boasting over 15 billion deployments across various platforms.
However, according to Oligo Security research team, a series of "trivial-to-exploit" vulnerabilities have left Fluent Bit open to disruption for years. This news comes as a significant concern given the widespread use of this tool by major cloud providers and tech giants such as Google, Amazon, Oracle, IBM, and Microsoft.
The security flaws were discovered through an extensive research effort led by Uri Katz, who at Oligo Security, identified five separate vulnerabilities in Fluent Bit's plugin architecture. These include a partial string comparison vulnerability, CVE-2025-12977, that allows attackers to control the value of tags, bypassing authentication and allowing for remote code execution; improper input validation on tag_key records, CVE-2025-12978, which can lead to path traversal vulnerabilities; a path traversal vulnerability in the File output plugin, CVE-2025-12972, which enables attackers to manipulate data by embedding path-traversal characters; a stack buffer overflow bug in the Docker plugin, CVE-2025-12970, that allows an attacker to crash the agent or execute code; and an authentication bypass vulnerability in the forward plugin, CVE-2025-12969.
These vulnerabilities are serious concerns as they can be exploited by attackers with relatively little technical knowledge. The Oligo Security research team noted that most of these flaws arise from a new plugin introduced in Fluent Bit. "There are multiple vulnerabilities here with different complexity levels," Katz said. "Some can be triggered with only a basic understanding of Fluent Bit's behavior and the specific vulnerability, while others demand more familiarity with memory corruption. Overall, the technical bar to exploit these is relatively low, and the issues should be considered trivial to exploit."
Furthermore, Oligo Security warned that the worst-case scenario involves chaining these flaws together, allowing an attacker to bypass authentication, perform path traversal, achieve remote code execution, cause denial-of-service conditions, and manipulate tags. This can lead to an unauthenticated user being able to write files on a host system or escalate to full remote code execution.
Fluent Bit's use case highlights the risks posed by vulnerabilities in open-source software tools. Given that Fluent Bit is widely deployed across major cloud providers, its widespread use underscores the need for immediate attention and action to address these vulnerabilities.
In light of this discovery, AWS has publicly acknowledged its appreciation for Oligo Security's efforts in bringing these issues to their attention and collaborating with them in issuing CVEs and fixing the vulnerabilities. The release of Fluent Bit v4.1.1 marks an essential step towards mitigating these security risks.
As with many recent discoveries, collaboration between maintainers, cloud providers, and security researchers is deemed crucial for safeguarding open-source infrastructure against such threats.
In conclusion, the discovery highlights the significance of ongoing vigilance when it comes to monitoring and addressing potential security vulnerabilities in widely used software tools. As we continue on the path toward enhancing the global software supply chain's resilience against emerging threats, collaboration remains key to mitigating the risks posed by these types of vulnerabilities.
Related Information:
https://www.ethicalhackingnews.com/articles/A-Vulnerability-in-the-Cloud-The-Un-patched-Flu-ent-Bit-Log-Collection-Tool-ehn.shtml
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2025/11/24/fluent_bit_cves/
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-12977
https://www.cvedetails.com/cve/CVE-2025-12977/
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-12978
https://www.cvedetails.com/cve/CVE-2025-12978/
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-12970
https://www.cvedetails.com/cve/CVE-2025-12970/
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-12969
https://www.cvedetails.com/cve/CVE-2025-12969/
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-12972
https://www.cvedetails.com/cve/CVE-2025-12972/
Published: Mon Nov 24 10:02:38 2025 by llama3.2 3B Q4_K_M
