CVE-2007-3331 in EasyNews
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in STphp EasyNews PRO 4.0 allows remote attackers to change the admin password via (1) a certain HTML form that is posted automatically by JavaScript or (2) a news post.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/04/2018
The CVE-2007-3331 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw in STphp EasyNews PRO version 4.0 that fundamentally compromises the application's administrative security controls. This vulnerability exists within the web application's authentication and authorization mechanisms, specifically targeting the administrative password change functionality. The flaw allows remote attackers to execute unauthorized administrative actions without proper authentication, creating a severe privilege escalation risk that can lead to complete system compromise. The vulnerability stems from the application's failure to implement proper CSRF protection measures, leaving it susceptible to attacks that exploit the trust relationship between the web application and its authenticated users.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability occurs through two distinct attack vectors that leverage the application's insufficient input validation and lack of anti-CSRF tokens. The first vector involves an automated HTML form submission that is triggered by JavaScript code, which can be embedded within malicious web pages or delivered through phishing campaigns. The second vector targets the news posting functionality, where attackers can manipulate the application's form handling to execute administrative commands. Both attack methods exploit the absence of proper session validation and token-based protection mechanisms that should verify the authenticity of user-initiated requests. This flaw directly aligns with CWE-352, which defines Cross-Site Request Forgery as a vulnerability where the application fails to validate that requests originate from legitimate sources.
The operational impact of CVE-2007-3331 is substantial and potentially catastrophic for organizations relying on STphp EasyNews PRO 4.0. Successful exploitation enables attackers to assume administrative privileges, allowing them to modify or delete content, alter user permissions, access sensitive data, and potentially establish persistent backdoors within the system. The vulnerability's remote nature means attackers can exploit it without requiring physical access to the system or knowledge of valid credentials, making it particularly dangerous. Organizations may experience complete loss of control over their web content management systems, leading to data breaches, service disruption, and potential regulatory compliance violations. The attack can be executed through various delivery methods including email phishing, compromised websites, or social engineering campaigns that leverage the application's trust relationship with legitimate users.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability must address the fundamental architectural flaw in the application's security design and implement comprehensive protection mechanisms. Organizations should immediately implement anti-CSRF token mechanisms that generate unique, unpredictable tokens for each user session and validate them with every administrative request. The application should enforce strict referer header validation and implement SameSite cookie attributes to prevent cross-site request forgery attacks. Additionally, proper input sanitization and output encoding should be implemented to prevent malicious code injection that could be used to exploit this vulnerability. Security patches or upgrades to newer versions of the application should be prioritized, as this vulnerability represents a known weakness that has likely been addressed in subsequent releases. The remediation process should also include comprehensive security testing to identify other potential CSRF vulnerabilities within the application's attack surface, following the principles outlined in the OWASP CSRF Prevention Cheat Sheet and ATT&CK framework's T1566 technique for social engineering attacks that leverage CSRF vulnerabilities.