CVE-2005-4506 in dev hound
Summary
by MITRE
nexus concepts dev hound 2.24 and earlier stores username and password information in cleartext in the devhound.tdbd file which allows local users to gain privileges.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/05/2017
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2005-4506 affects nexus concepts dev hound version 2.24 and earlier, presenting a critical security flaw in how authentication credentials are stored within the application. This issue stems from the application's insecure handling of user authentication data, specifically storing username and password information in cleartext format within the devhound.tdbd file. The flaw represents a fundamental failure in secure credential management practices and demonstrates poor adherence to established security principles for protecting sensitive authentication information.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves the application's storage mechanism where user credentials are written to disk without any form of encryption or obfuscation. When the devhound.tdbd file is created or updated, it contains plaintext representations of both usernames and passwords, making these credentials immediately accessible to any user with read access to the file system. This cleartext storage approach directly violates security best practices and creates an attack surface that can be exploited by local users who gain access to the system or have file system privileges. The vulnerability specifically affects local users who can read the file directly, as they can extract authentication credentials and potentially escalate their privileges within the system.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability enables local privilege escalation attacks where an attacker with basic system access can extract stored credentials and leverage them for unauthorized access to additional system resources or accounts. The flaw essentially provides a backdoor mechanism for attackers to bypass normal authentication procedures and gain elevated privileges within the system. This represents a significant risk to system integrity and confidentiality, as the extracted credentials can be used to access other services or systems where the same authentication information might be reused. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it requires minimal technical expertise to exploit, making it a popular target for attackers seeking to gain unauthorized access to systems.
The security implications of this vulnerability align with CWE-312 (Cleartext Storage of Sensitive Information) and represent a direct violation of the principle of least privilege and secure credential handling. This flaw can be mapped to ATT&CK technique T1555.003 (Credentials from Password Stores) as it involves the extraction of credentials from a local password store. Organizations affected by this vulnerability should immediately implement mitigations including upgrading to a patched version of the application, implementing proper file system access controls to restrict read access to the devhound.tdbd file, and conducting comprehensive security audits to identify other instances of cleartext credential storage. Additionally, system administrators should consider implementing monitoring mechanisms to detect unauthorized access attempts to sensitive credential files and establish proper credential rotation procedures to minimize the impact of potential credential exposure.