CVE-2002-2046 in X-News
Summary
by MITRE
x_news.php in X-News (x_news) 1.1 and earlier allows remote attackers to gain administrative privileges by stealing and replaying the md5_password cookie.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/11/2018
The vulnerability described in CVE-2002-2046 affects X-News version 1.1 and earlier, a web-based news management system that was widely used in the early 2000s for content management and user administration. This flaw represents a critical authentication bypass vulnerability that fundamentally undermines the security model of the application by allowing unauthenticated attackers to escalate their privileges to administrative level. The vulnerability specifically targets the session management mechanism within the x_news.php component, which handles user authentication and authorization processes.
The technical flaw stems from improper session handling where the application relies on a predictable md5_password cookie for authentication purposes rather than implementing secure session management practices. When legitimate administrators authenticate to the system, their session information is stored in a cookie that contains an md5 hash of their password. This design violates fundamental security principles as it exposes sensitive authentication data in a format that can be easily captured and replayed. The vulnerability occurs because the system does not implement proper session binding, token regeneration, or secure cookie attributes that would prevent session hijacking attacks.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and far-reaching, as it allows remote attackers to completely compromise administrative accounts without requiring any valid credentials or knowledge of user passwords. Once an attacker successfully steals the md5_password cookie through passive network monitoring, packet capture, or man-in-the-middle attacks, they can immediately impersonate any administrative user and gain full control over the news management system. This includes the ability to modify, delete, or add content, manage user accounts, access sensitive data, and potentially use the compromised system as a pivot point for further attacks within the network infrastructure. The vulnerability essentially renders the authentication mechanism useless, making it trivial for attackers to achieve unauthorized administrative access.
This vulnerability aligns with CWE-384, which describes the weakness of storing sensitive data in cookies without proper security measures, and represents a classic example of session management flaws that fall under the ATT&CK technique T1548.003 for abuse of credentials and privilege escalation. The attack vector demonstrates how insecure cookie handling can lead to complete system compromise, and the vulnerability has been classified as a medium to high severity issue based on the potential for privilege escalation and data compromise. Organizations using affected versions of X-News should immediately implement mitigations including proper session management, secure cookie attributes, and regular security audits. The recommended remediation involves upgrading to patched versions of the software, implementing secure session handling mechanisms, and ensuring that authentication tokens are properly generated with sufficient entropy and are bound to client characteristics to prevent replay attacks.