CVE-2004-1400 in ASP Calendar
Summary
by MITRE
The control panel in ASP Calendar does not require authentication to access, which allows remote attackers to gain unauthorized access via a direct request to main.asp.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/16/2024
The vulnerability described in CVE-2004-1400 represents a critical authentication bypass flaw within the ASP Calendar application's control panel implementation. This issue stems from the application's failure to enforce proper access controls, specifically allowing unauthenticated users to directly access administrative functions through a simple HTTP request to the main.asp endpoint. The absence of authentication checks creates a fundamental security weakness that directly violates core principles of access control and privilege management.
The technical flaw manifests as a missing authentication mechanism in the application's web interface design. When users attempt to access the control panel through the main.asp script, the application fails to validate user credentials or session tokens before granting access to administrative functions. This represents a classic case of inadequate input validation and access control implementation that falls under CWE-284, which specifically addresses improper access control vulnerabilities. The vulnerability exists at the application logic level where the system assumes that all requests to the control panel endpoint should be authenticated, but no actual authentication check occurs before granting access.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability creates significant risks for organizations using the ASP Calendar application. Remote attackers can exploit this flaw to gain full administrative access to the calendar system, potentially allowing them to modify calendar entries, add or remove users, change system configurations, or even escalate privileges to gain access to underlying system resources. The impact extends beyond simple unauthorized access as the vulnerability enables attackers to manipulate calendar data, potentially affecting business operations, scheduling, and information availability. This type of vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1078 which covers valid accounts usage, and T1566 which covers credential harvesting through various attack vectors.
The exploitation of this vulnerability requires minimal technical skill and can be accomplished through simple web browser requests or automated tools. Attackers need only know the target application's URL structure and can directly request the main.asp endpoint without providing any authentication credentials. This makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous as it can be discovered and exploited by automated scanning tools, increasing the likelihood of widespread compromise across multiple systems. Organizations that deploy ASP Calendar without proper network segmentation or additional security controls face significant risk of unauthorized access and potential data breaches.
Mitigation strategies should include implementing proper authentication mechanisms for all administrative endpoints, ensuring that the application requires valid user credentials before granting access to control panel functions. Network-level protections such as firewalls and web application firewalls should be deployed to restrict access to administrative interfaces to trusted IP addresses only. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing role-based access controls, regular security audits, and proper network segmentation to limit the potential impact of such vulnerabilities. The remediation process should involve code-level fixes to enforce authentication checks, proper input validation, and comprehensive security testing to prevent similar issues in future deployments.