CVE-2006-4249 in Plone
Summary
by MITRE
Unspecified vulnerability in PlonePAS in Plone 2.5 and 2.5.1, when anonymous member registration is enabled, allows an attacker to "masquerade as a group."
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/13/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2006-4249 resides within the PlonePAS component of the Plone content management system version 2.5 and 2.5.1. This security flaw manifests when the system is configured to allow anonymous users to register as members, creating a scenario where unauthorized individuals can exploit the authentication and authorization mechanisms to assume the identity of existing user groups. The unspecified nature of the vulnerability suggests a fundamental weakness in how group membership permissions are handled during the registration process, potentially allowing attackers to manipulate group assignments or create false group memberships that could bypass normal access controls.
This vulnerability represents a critical flaw in the access control implementation within Plone's authentication system, specifically affecting the PlonePAS module which manages user authentication and authorization. The issue occurs when anonymous registration is enabled, indicating that the system fails to properly validate or authenticate group membership requests from unauthenticated users. The attack vector involves an adversary leveraging the registration functionality to manipulate group associations, effectively allowing them to impersonate legitimate groups within the system. This weakness directly impacts the principle of least privilege and could enable attackers to gain elevated permissions or access to restricted resources that should only be available to specific group members.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple identity theft, as it undermines the fundamental security model of the Plone platform. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability can potentially access confidential content, modify group permissions, or even gain administrative capabilities if they can masquerade as privileged groups. The implications are particularly severe in environments where Plone serves as a corporate or institutional content management system, as it could lead to data breaches, unauthorized content modifications, or complete compromise of user group access controls. This vulnerability also aligns with common attack patterns documented in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under privilege escalation and credential access techniques, specifically targeting the exploitation of authentication system weaknesses.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate action to either disable anonymous member registration or implement robust validation mechanisms for group membership assignments. Organizations should ensure that Plone installations are upgraded to versions that address this specific flaw, as the vulnerability affects older releases where proper access control validation is not implemented. Security administrators must also conduct thorough audits of existing group memberships and access controls to identify any potential exploitation that may have already occurred. The remediation approach should include implementing proper input validation for group assignment requests, enforcing strict authentication requirements for group membership changes, and establishing monitoring mechanisms to detect unauthorized group access attempts. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing network segmentation and access control lists to limit exposure of systems running vulnerable Plone versions, aligning with security best practices outlined in industry standards such as those recommended by the Center for Internet Security and NIST guidelines for web application security.