CVE-2004-0704 in Bugzilla
Summary
by MITRE
Unknown vulnerability in (1) duplicates.cgi and (2) buglist.cgi in Bugzilla 2.16.x before 2.16.6, 2.18 before 2.18rc1, when configured to hide products, allows remote attackers to view hidden products.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/23/2019
This vulnerability exists in Bugzilla versions 2.16.x prior to 2.16.6 and 2.18.x prior to 2.18rc1 where the software fails to properly enforce access controls when configured to hide products. The flaw specifically affects the duplicates.cgi and buglist.cgi scripts which are responsible for displaying bug reports and duplicate bug tracking information. When administrators configure Bugzilla to hide certain products from regular users, the system should prevent unauthorized access to these hidden products through the web interface. However, the vulnerability allows remote attackers to bypass these access restrictions and view information about products that should be hidden from them.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from improper input validation and access control implementation within the affected CGI scripts. When users request bug information through these scripts, the application fails to properly verify whether the requesting user has appropriate permissions to access the requested product data. This represents a classic access control bypass vulnerability that falls under CWE-285, which specifically addresses improper authorization in software systems. The flaw occurs because the scripts do not adequately validate user permissions against the configured product visibility settings, allowing unauthorized users to construct requests that retrieve data from hidden products.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant for organizations using Bugzilla for bug tracking and software development management. Attackers can exploit this weakness to gain unauthorized visibility into sensitive product information, potentially including proprietary software details, development roadmaps, security vulnerabilities, or other confidential data that should remain hidden from external users or unauthorized internal personnel. This exposure could lead to competitive intelligence gathering, security risk assessment by malicious actors, or provide attackers with information needed to target specific products or development processes. The vulnerability essentially undermines the security configuration that administrators have implemented to protect sensitive product information.
Organizations should immediately update their Bugzilla installations to versions 2.16.6 or 2.18rc1, which contain the necessary patches to address this access control bypass issue. Additionally, administrators should conduct thorough reviews of their Bugzilla configuration settings to ensure that product visibility rules are properly implemented and tested. The mitigation strategy should include verifying that access controls are functioning correctly after updates and monitoring for any unusual access patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. Security teams should also consider implementing network-level controls and monitoring to detect and prevent unauthorized access attempts to bug tracking systems. This vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of proper access control implementation and the potential consequences when such controls are bypassed in enterprise software systems. The flaw aligns with ATT&CK technique T1078 which covers valid accounts and privilege escalation through unauthorized access to system resources.