CVE-2006-3671 in Hyper Estraier
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the communicate function in estmaster.c for Hyper Estraier before 1.3.3 allows remote attackers to perform unauthorized actions as other users via unknown vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/17/2017
The CVE-2006-3671 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw within the Hyper Estraier search engine software ecosystem. This vulnerability specifically affects the communicate function in the estmaster.c component of Hyper Estraier versions prior to 1.3.3, creating a significant security risk that enables remote attackers to execute unauthorized actions on behalf of legitimate users. The flaw operates at the application level, exploiting the fundamental principle that web applications should verify the authenticity of requests originating from authenticated users.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the absence of proper request validation mechanisms within the estmaster.c module. When users interact with the Hyper Estraier web interface, the system fails to adequately verify that requests originate from legitimate user sessions rather than maliciously crafted requests. Attackers can leverage this weakness by crafting specially designed web pages or email attachments that automatically submit requests to the vulnerable Hyper Estraier instance. These crafted requests appear to originate from authenticated users due to the absence of proper CSRF token validation, session management verification, or referer header checks. The vulnerability's impact extends beyond simple data manipulation as it enables attackers to perform actions such as creating new user accounts, modifying existing records, or executing administrative functions without proper authorization.
The operational consequences of this vulnerability are severe for organizations relying on Hyper Estraier for document management and search capabilities. Attackers exploiting this CSRF flaw can potentially gain unauthorized access to sensitive information stored within the search engine database, manipulate search results, or compromise the integrity of the entire information retrieval system. The vulnerability's remote exploitability means that attackers do not require physical access to the system or knowledge of valid credentials to initiate attacks. This characteristic significantly increases the attack surface and makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous in environments where the Hyper Estraier instance is accessible over the internet. The lack of specific vector details in the original description suggests that the vulnerability may affect multiple types of operations within the communicate function, potentially including user management, document indexing, or configuration changes.
From a cybersecurity framework perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery weaknesses in web applications. The flaw demonstrates the critical importance of implementing proper anti-CSRF mechanisms such as synchronizer tokens, origin validation checks, or SameSite cookie attributes. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this vulnerability under the T1566 technique for "Phishing" and T1078 for "Valid Accounts" as attackers can leverage the CSRF capability to perform unauthorized actions using legitimate user sessions. Organizations affected by this vulnerability should immediately implement mitigations including the deployment of CSRF tokens, proper session management controls, and input validation mechanisms. The recommended remediation involves upgrading to Hyper Estraier version 1.3.3 or later, which includes proper CSRF protection measures. Additionally, network segmentation, web application firewalls, and regular security assessments can provide additional layers of defense against exploitation attempts. The vulnerability serves as a critical reminder of the importance of maintaining up-to-date software components and implementing comprehensive security controls to protect against session-based attacks that can compromise entire web applications.