CVE-2007-2589 in SquirrelMail
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in compose.php in SquirrelMail 1.4.0 through 1.4.9a allows remote attackers to send e-mails from arbitrary users via certain data in the SRC attribute of an IMG element.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/19/2019
The CVE-2007-2589 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw discovered in SquirrelMail versions 1.4.0 through 1.4.9a, specifically within the compose.php script. This vulnerability operates under the Common Weakness Enumeration CWE-352 category, which classifies it as a classic CSRF weakness where an attacker can induce users to perform actions they did not intend. The flaw manifests when the application fails to properly validate and authenticate requests originating from the SRC attribute of an IMG element, creating an exploitable pathway for malicious actors to manipulate email composition functions.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability exploits the trust relationship between the web application and the user's browser. When a malicious attacker crafts a specially designed HTML payload containing an IMG element with a SRC attribute pointing to the vulnerable compose.php endpoint, the browser automatically fetches the resource without proper authentication verification. This allows the attacker to inject arbitrary email content and potentially impersonate legitimate users, as the application processes the request as if it originated from an authenticated session. The vulnerability specifically targets the email composition functionality where user input is not adequately sanitized or validated against the current session context.
The operational impact of this CSRF vulnerability extends beyond simple email spoofing, as it enables attackers to execute unauthorized email sending operations on behalf of authenticated users. This creates significant risks for email-based authentication systems and can be leveraged for phishing campaigns, spam distribution, or social engineering attacks that appear to originate from legitimate users within the organization. The vulnerability affects the integrity and authenticity guarantees of the email system, potentially compromising user trust and enabling further attacks such as credential harvesting or data exfiltration through manipulated email content.
Security practitioners should implement multiple layers of defense to mitigate this vulnerability, including the implementation of anti-CSRF tokens in all state-changing operations, proper validation of request origins, and the use of the SameSite cookie attributes where applicable. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this as a technique involving 'T1566: Phishing' and 'T1078: Valid Accounts' where attackers leverage compromised accounts to execute malicious actions. Organizations should also ensure proper input validation, implement proper session management, and conduct regular security assessments to identify similar vulnerabilities in web applications. The vulnerability underscores the importance of maintaining up-to-date software versions and following secure coding practices that prevent unauthorized state changes in web applications.