CVE-2007-5644 in Vanilla
Summary
by MITRE
Lussumo Vanilla 1.1.3 and earlier does not require admin privileges for (1) ajax/sortcategories.php and (2) ajax/sortroles.php, which allows remote attackers to conduct unauthorized sort operations and other activities.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/07/2024
The vulnerability described in CVE-2007-5644 affects Lussumo Vanilla versions 1.1.3 and earlier, representing a critical authorization flaw that undermines the security posture of the application. This issue stems from insufficient access control mechanisms within the application's ajax endpoints, specifically targeting the sortcategories.php and sortroles.php scripts. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-285, which addresses improper authorization issues in software systems, making it a direct concern for privilege escalation and unauthorized administrative actions.
The technical flaw manifests in the application's failure to validate administrative privileges before permitting execution of sorting operations within the ajax interface. Attackers can exploit this weakness by directly accessing the vulnerable endpoints without requiring valid administrative credentials, thereby gaining the ability to manipulate category and role sorting orders. This unauthorized access capability extends beyond simple data reorganization, as it allows malicious actors to potentially disrupt the application's functionality and compromise the integrity of user role hierarchies. The vulnerability operates at the application layer, specifically targeting the web interface's ajax functionality and represents a classic case of insufficient authorization checks.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant for organizations utilizing Lussumo Vanilla, as it creates a pathway for unauthorized users to perform administrative actions that should be restricted to privileged personnel only. Remote attackers can leverage this flaw to modify the application's organizational structure, potentially leading to privilege escalation or denial of service conditions. The vulnerability's remote exploitability means that attackers do not require physical access to the system or knowledge of valid user credentials to exploit the issue, making it particularly dangerous in environments where the application is publicly accessible. This weakness directly violates the principle of least privilege and could enable attackers to gain unauthorized control over user role management and content organization.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should implement immediate mitigations including applying the latest security patches from Lussumo, implementing proper access controls for ajax endpoints, and conducting thorough security reviews of all application interfaces. The remediation process should focus on enforcing strict authentication and authorization checks for all administrative functions, particularly those accessible through ajax calls. Additionally, security monitoring should be enhanced to detect unusual sorting activities that might indicate exploitation attempts. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1078 for valid accounts and T1566 for credential harvesting, as it enables attackers to bypass normal access controls and potentially escalate privileges through unauthorized administrative functions. The affected application should also be reviewed for similar authorization issues in other ajax endpoints and administrative interfaces to prevent similar vulnerabilities from existing in the system's broader attack surface.