Cloud-based workflow automation platform ServiceNow has announced guidance for global customers concerning misconfigurations of access control lists (ACL). AppOmni, a leading SaaS Security Management platform, released a security report that discovered the issue in about 70% of the tested instances, prompting the release of these guidelines. ServiceNow ACL misconfigurations are related to the exposure of external interfaces that malicious actors could utilize for extracting valuable data from records. Generally, this issue arises when end users do not employ recommended configuration and governance controls on their SaaS platforms.
What Happened Exactly?
In a statement, the SaaS platform described that the misconfigured ACLs of ServiceNow instances facilitated data breaches. The vulnerability permitted unauthorized users to tap data. This happened due to an amalgamation of misconfigured ACLs and excessive permissions to guest users. A ServiceNow spokesperson said, “ServiceNow regularly publishes security configuration and best practice guidance to help our customers. We recommend that customers continuously monitor their security settings and user permissions to ensure they configure their instances as intended, with particular emphasis on permission levels for external users.”
This sort of issue is likely to occur due to the complexity level of many major SaaS platforms. Teams often introduce misconfiguration issues during the initial implementation phase of a SaaS platform. Changes in settings, users, and SaaS updates can make existing configurations messy. As SaaS platforms become increasingly complex, SaaS security becomes more important than ever. Checking a few scenes or recommending strong authentication is not enough for users.
AppOmni CEO Brendan O’Connor says, “SaaS platforms have become business operating systems because they are so flexible and powerful. There are many valid reasons for workloads and applications running on a SaaS platform to communicate externally, such as to integrate with emails and text messages or host a support portal for your customers.”
“SaaS adoption skyrocketed during the pandemic, but unfortunately, investments in people, processes, and technology to secure and monitor SaaS have not kept up. In AppOmni’s experience, significant data exposures like this are far more common than customers realize,” O’Connor added.
Professional ServiceNow technical consultants can also help you solve the issue of ServiceNow ACL Misconfigurations.
ServiceNow ACL Misconfigurations and SaaS platforms
Users get permission to access resources on a SaaS platform through Role-Based Access Control (RBAC). The major challenge is ensuring the proper access level while customizing and update SaaS apps by organizations. The same can happen while onboarding new users on the app. Surprisingly, ServiceNow external interfaces are exposed to the public, affecting data security. Brian Soby, CTO of AppOmni, says, “The high degree of flexibility in modern SaaS platforms has made misconfiguration one of the largest security risks businesses currently face. Our goal is to shed light on common misconfigurations and other potential risks in SaaS platforms so users can ensure their system posture and configuration matches their business intent.”
If you face any sort of ServiceNow instance vulnerability due to misconfigurations or data breaches, you can get help from the ServiceNow support team.
Frequently Asked Questions
ServiceNow ACL (Access Control List) misconfigurations occur when access permissions are incorrectly defined, allowing users to view or modify data they should not access. Proper ACL configuration helps protect sensitive information and maintain platform security.
Incorrect ACL configurations can expose confidential business data, create unauthorized access, increase compliance risks, and leave the ServiceNow environment vulnerable to internal or external security threats.
Organizations can prevent ACL issues by performing regular security audits, reviewing user roles and permissions, following ServiceNow best practices, implementing least-privilege access, and continuously monitoring access policies.
Well-configured ACLs improve data security, simplify regulatory compliance, reduce unauthorized access, strengthen governance, and ensure users can only access the information required for their roles.
An experienced ServiceNow implementation partner can assess existing ACL policies, identify security gaps, optimize role-based access controls, implement governance best practices, and strengthen your overall ServiceNow security posture through customized configuration and ongoing support.
