CVE-2007-4317 in Zywall 2
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerabilities in the management interface in ZyNOS firmware 3.62(WK.6) on the Zyxel Zywall 2 device allow remote attackers to perform certain actions as administrators, as demonstrated by a request to Forms/General_1 with the (1) sysSystemName and (2) sysDomainName parameters.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/02/2017
The CVE-2007-4317 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw discovered in the ZyNOS firmware version 3.62(WK.6) running on Zyxel Zywall 2 firewall devices. This vulnerability resides within the management interface of the device, creating a significant security risk that allows remote attackers to execute administrative actions without proper authentication. The flaw specifically affects the Forms/General_1 endpoint where the system accepts parameters for sysSystemName and sysDomainName, which can be manipulated by unauthorized users to alter critical system configuration settings.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the absence of proper anti-CSRF mechanisms within the web-based management interface. When an authenticated administrator accesses the management interface, the system should validate that requests originate from legitimate sources and contain appropriate tokens or session identifiers to prevent unauthorized modifications. However, the Zywall 2 firmware fails to implement these essential protections, allowing attackers to craft malicious requests that appear to come from authenticated users. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it enables attackers to modify system-wide parameters that affect network security posture, including system naming and domain configuration settings.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple configuration changes, as it provides attackers with the ability to escalate privileges and potentially gain full administrative control over the firewall device. By manipulating the sysSystemName and sysDomainName parameters through crafted requests, an attacker could compromise the device's network configuration, potentially redirecting traffic or creating backdoors in the network infrastructure. This vulnerability affects organizations that rely on Zyxel Zywall 2 devices for network security, as compromised firewalls could lead to complete network infiltration, data exfiltration, and disruption of network services. The remote nature of the exploit means that attackers do not require physical access to the device or network presence to exploit this vulnerability.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2007-4317 should focus on immediate firmware updates from Zyxel to address the CSRF implementation flaws. Organizations should also implement network segmentation and access controls to limit exposure of management interfaces to untrusted networks. Additional defensive measures include deploying web application firewalls to detect and block suspicious requests, implementing proper input validation and output encoding, and ensuring that administrative interfaces require multi-factor authentication. From a cybersecurity framework perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses cross-site request forgery weaknesses, and maps to attack techniques in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under T1078 for valid accounts and T1566 for social engineering tactics that could be employed to exploit such vulnerabilities. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be conducted to identify similar CSRF flaws in other network infrastructure components, as the absence of CSRF protections in web interfaces remains a persistent threat vector in enterprise security environments.