CVE-2007-2277 in Plogger
Summary
by MITRE
Session fixation vulnerability in Plogger allows remote attackers to hijack web sessions by setting the PHPSESSID parameter.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/15/2019
The CVE-2007-2277 vulnerability represents a critical session management flaw in the Plogger content management system that exposes applications to remote session hijacking attacks. This vulnerability specifically affects the handling of PHP session identifiers within the web application framework, creating a pathway for malicious actors to gain unauthorized access to user sessions. The issue stems from the application's failure to properly regenerate session identifiers upon user authentication, leaving existing session cookies vulnerable to exploitation. Attackers can leverage this weakness by crafting malicious URLs containing predetermined session identifiers that, when visited by authenticated users, allow the attacker to assume the victim's authenticated session state. This fundamental flaw in session management directly violates security best practices and creates significant risks for web applications relying on the Plogger platform.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability occurs at the application layer where the PHP session management mechanism fails to properly handle session identifier regeneration during the authentication process. When users log into the Plogger application, the system should generate a new session identifier to prevent session fixation attacks, but instead maintains the original session cookie value. This behavior creates a persistent vulnerability that allows attackers to set their own PHPSESSID parameter value through manipulated URL parameters or cookies. The flaw specifically affects the session handling routines that should enforce proper session lifecycle management, where session identifiers should be regenerated after successful authentication to prevent attackers from maintaining control over sessions that were established before the authentication process. This vulnerability operates at the intersection of multiple security principles and represents a classic example of improper session management that can be exploited across various web technologies.
The operational impact of CVE-2007-2277 extends beyond simple session hijacking to encompass potential data breaches, unauthorized administrative access, and complete compromise of user accounts within the Plogger application. An attacker exploiting this vulnerability can gain persistent access to user sessions without requiring knowledge of valid credentials, effectively bypassing authentication mechanisms entirely. This creates a significant risk for organizations using Plogger for content management, as it allows unauthorized individuals to access sensitive information, modify content, or perform administrative functions within the application. The vulnerability's remote exploitation capability means that attackers do not need physical access to the system or network to exploit the flaw, making it particularly dangerous in web-facing applications. Additionally, the impact extends to potential cascading effects where compromised sessions could lead to further attacks on connected systems or databases, as the authenticated user context provides elevated privileges within the application environment.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should implement immediate mitigations including session identifier regeneration upon successful authentication, proper session management protocols, and comprehensive security auditing of web applications. The recommended approach involves ensuring that the PHP application properly regenerates session identifiers using functions such as session_regenerate_id() after user authentication to prevent session fixation attacks. Security patches should address the underlying session management implementation to ensure that new session tokens are generated for each authenticated session, preventing attackers from maintaining control over existing session states. Network security controls such as web application firewalls and session monitoring tools should be deployed to detect and prevent exploitation attempts. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-384, which specifically addresses session fixation issues in web applications, and corresponds to ATT&CK technique T1563.002 related to credential access through session hijacking. Regular security assessments and code reviews should be conducted to identify similar session management flaws, as this type of vulnerability frequently occurs in legacy web applications where proper security controls were not implemented during development phases.