CVE-2007-6644 in Joomla
Summary
by MITRE
Joomla! before 1.5 RC4 allows remote authenticated administrators to promote arbitrary users to the administrator group, in violation of the intended security model.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/30/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2007-6644 affects Joomla administration interface, where authenticated administrator accounts can exploit a design flaw to elevate the privileges of any user account to administrator level. The vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and privilege checking mechanisms within the user group assignment process, allowing malicious administrators to bypass the intended authorization controls that should prevent arbitrary privilege escalation.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability occurs within the Joomla! user management subsystem where the system fails to properly validate the administrative rights of the requesting user when processing group assignment requests. When an authenticated administrator attempts to promote another user to the administrator group, the system does not adequately verify whether the acting administrator possesses the necessary permissions to perform such an operation, nor does it validate that the target user is being assigned to a group that the current user is authorized to modify. This flaw creates a path for privilege escalation that directly violates the principle of least privilege and role-based access control that should govern administrative operations within the CMS.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability presents a severe threat to Joomla! installations that rely on the administrator role hierarchy for security enforcement. An attacker who has already gained access to any administrator account can leverage this flaw to create additional administrator accounts with full system access, effectively compromising the entire platform. The implications extend beyond simple privilege escalation as it allows for persistent backdoor creation, data exfiltration, and complete system takeover. This vulnerability particularly affects organizations that implement role-based user management and rely on the CMS to enforce security boundaries between different user roles. The attack vector requires only authentication to the system, making it particularly dangerous in environments where administrative credentials may be compromised through social engineering, credential theft, or other means.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-284, which describes improper access control in software systems, specifically addressing inadequate privilege checking mechanisms. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to privilege escalation techniques under the T1068 category, where adversaries leverage system flaws to gain elevated privileges. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including upgrading to Joomla! 1.5 RC4 or later versions, which contain the necessary security patches to address the group assignment validation flaw. Additionally, administrators should conduct thorough access control reviews, implement multi-factor authentication for administrative accounts, and monitor user privilege changes within the system. The remediation process should also include verifying that all existing administrator accounts have proper access controls and that no unauthorized privilege escalations have occurred during the period when the vulnerability was active. Regular security audits and patch management processes should be enforced to prevent similar vulnerabilities from being introduced in future versions of the CMS.