CVE-2005-1563 in Bugzilla
Summary
by MITRE
Bugzilla 2.10 through 2.18, 2.19.1, and 2.19.2 displays a different error message depending on whether a product exists or not, which allows remote attackers to determine hidden products.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/01/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2005-1563 affects Bugzilla versions 2.10 through 2.18 and specifically impacts versions 2.19.1 and 2.19.2, creating a significant information disclosure issue that exposes the existence of hidden products within the system. This flaw represents a classic case of information leakage through error message discrimination, where the application's behavior varies based on whether a requested product exists in the database. The vulnerability stems from the application's inconsistent error handling mechanism that provides different responses to unauthorized access attempts, specifically when users attempt to access product information that should be restricted or hidden from public view.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability occurs at the application layer where Bugzilla's product validation logic returns distinct error messages depending on whether the requested product identifier corresponds to an existing product in the database. When a user attempts to access a product that does not exist, the system returns one type of error message, while attempting to access a product that exists but is hidden or restricted results in a different error response. This differential behavior creates a reconnaissance opportunity for attackers who can systematically test product identifiers to determine which products are hidden or restricted within the system. The flaw essentially creates a side-channel attack vector where the error message differences serve as a signal indicating the presence or absence of specific products, effectively bypassing access controls that should prevent unauthorized discovery of hidden information.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability significantly undermines the security posture of Bugzilla installations by enabling attackers to perform reconnaissance activities that would otherwise be blocked by proper access control mechanisms. The disclosure of hidden product information can provide attackers with valuable intelligence about the organization's software development landscape, potentially revealing sensitive details about ongoing projects, internal product lines, or security-critical systems that should remain confidential. This information disclosure can facilitate more sophisticated attacks by allowing threat actors to focus their efforts on specific products or areas of the system that they know exist and are potentially vulnerable. The impact extends beyond simple information disclosure, as it can enable privilege escalation attempts or targeted attacks against specific product components that are known to exist within the system.
The vulnerability maps directly to CWE-200, which describes the improper handling of information disclosure vulnerabilities, and aligns with several ATT&CK techniques including T1083 (File and Directory Discovery) and T1592 (Threat Group TTPs). The inconsistent error handling pattern represents a failure in proper input validation and access control implementation, where the application's response to invalid inputs reveals information about the underlying system state. Security practitioners should consider this vulnerability as part of a broader information disclosure threat landscape, where seemingly minor implementation flaws can create significant security implications. The remediation approach requires standardizing error responses across all product access attempts, ensuring that the application provides consistent error messages regardless of whether the requested product exists or not, thereby eliminating the information leakage that enables this reconnaissance capability.
Organizations using affected Bugzilla versions should implement immediate mitigations including patching to the latest stable releases, configuring the application to return generic error messages for all product access attempts, and reviewing access control policies to ensure that proper authentication and authorization mechanisms are in place. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of proper error handling practices in web applications, where developers must ensure that error responses do not inadvertently reveal system internals or configuration details. Additionally, organizations should conduct security reviews of their application error handling mechanisms to identify similar patterns that might expose sensitive information through inconsistent responses to user requests. The incident serves as a reminder of how subtle implementation details in application logic can create significant security weaknesses that can be exploited by threat actors to gain intelligence about system configurations and potentially facilitate more targeted attacks against specific components or areas of the system.