CVE-2003-0728 in Horde
Summary
by MITRE
Horde before 2.2.4 allows remote malicious web sites to steal session IDs and read or create arbitrary email by stealing the ID from a referrer URL.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/15/2018
The vulnerability described in CVE-2003-0728 represents a critical session management flaw in the Horde web-based email application prior to version 2.2.4. This issue stems from inadequate handling of HTTP referer headers, which are typically used by web browsers to indicate the address of the page that linked to the resource being requested. The flaw allows remote malicious websites to exploit this mechanism by crafting specially designed web pages that can extract session identifiers from the referer URL when users navigate between the legitimate Horde application and the malicious site.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability exploits the trust relationship between web applications and their referer header handling. When a user accesses Horde and subsequently navigates to a malicious website, the browser automatically includes the full URL of the previous page in the referer header. If this URL contains session identifiers or other sensitive information, the malicious site can parse this data to obtain valid session tokens. This behavior creates an attack vector where an attacker can steal active user sessions and potentially gain unauthorized access to email accounts.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe as it enables session hijacking attacks that can result in complete compromise of user email accounts. An attacker who successfully steals a session ID can read, create, or modify email messages without authentication, effectively bypassing all authentication mechanisms. This type of vulnerability falls under the category of cross-site request forgery and session management flaws as defined by CWE-384 and CWE-306, respectively, and represents a significant violation of the principle of least privilege in information security.
The attack scenario typically involves a user accessing their email through Horde and then visiting a malicious website that contains JavaScript code designed to extract the referer URL. Once the session identifier is obtained, the attacker can use it to impersonate the legitimate user and perform unauthorized actions. This vulnerability particularly affects web applications that do not properly sanitize or validate referer headers, and it demonstrates the importance of implementing proper session management practices. The mitigation strategies include implementing secure session handling mechanisms, disabling or sanitizing referer headers when appropriate, and ensuring that session identifiers are not exposed through URL parameters or headers.
Organizations using Horde or similar web applications should implement immediate patches to address this vulnerability, as the risk of session hijacking attacks remains high. The fix typically involves proper session management implementation that does not rely on referer headers for security decisions, and includes the use of secure cookies with appropriate flags such as HttpOnly and Secure. This vulnerability also highlights the broader security principle that applications should not trust information provided by clients without proper validation and sanitization, as outlined in the OWASP Top Ten security risks and related ATT&CK techniques for credential access and privilege escalation.