CVE-2008-0182 in Enterprise Portal
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Admin portlet in Liferay Portal before 4.4.0 allows remote authenticated users to perform unspecified actions as unspecified other authenticated users via the Shutdown message.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/25/2024
The CVE-2008-0182 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw within Liferay Portal's Admin portlet functionality. This vulnerability existed in versions prior to 4.4.0 and enabled authenticated attackers to manipulate the system's shutdown mechanism through maliciously crafted requests. The flaw specifically targeted the administrative interface where shutdown messages could be processed without proper validation of the request origin or user authorization context. The vulnerability allowed an attacker who had already authenticated to the system to construct requests that would appear legitimate to the portal's administrative subsystem, thereby enabling unauthorized actions on behalf of other authenticated users. This type of vulnerability falls under the CWE-352 category, which specifically addresses cross-site request forgery conditions where web applications fail to validate that requests originate from legitimate sources.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability exploited the lack of proper anti-CSRF token validation within the Admin portlet's shutdown message processing functionality. When authenticated users accessed administrative functions, the system should have verified that the request was genuinely initiated by the authenticated user through proper session validation and token mechanisms. However, the vulnerability allowed attackers to craft requests that bypassed these security controls, enabling them to execute administrative operations such as system shutdown without proper authorization. The attack vector required the attacker to have valid authentication credentials, but the vulnerability allowed them to escalate their privileges or impersonate other users within the administrative context. This flaw particularly impacted the integrity of user session management and authorization controls within the portal's administrative subsystem.
The operational impact of this vulnerability was significant as it could allow attackers to disrupt service availability by triggering unauthorized shutdown operations within the Liferay Portal environment. Additionally, the vulnerability could potentially enable more severe administrative actions that might compromise the entire portal infrastructure. Attackers could leverage this weakness to perform unauthorized modifications to system configurations, access restricted administrative functions, or cause service disruptions that could affect multiple users within the portal. The vulnerability's impact extended beyond simple denial-of-service scenarios as it could potentially provide attackers with persistent access to administrative capabilities, making it particularly dangerous for organizations relying on Liferay Portal for business-critical applications. The flaw demonstrated a failure in the principle of least privilege and proper access control enforcement within the administrative interface.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should immediately implement mitigations including updating to Liferay Portal version 4.4.0 or later where the CSRF protection mechanisms have been properly implemented. The recommended approach involves ensuring that all administrative functions require proper CSRF tokens and that these tokens are validated against the user's authenticated session context. System administrators should also review and enforce proper session management policies, including implementing secure session handling mechanisms and monitoring for unauthorized administrative activities. The vulnerability highlights the importance of implementing comprehensive CSRF protection measures across all administrative interfaces and demonstrates the necessity of regular security updates and patch management processes. Organizations should also consider implementing additional monitoring and logging mechanisms to detect suspicious administrative activities that might indicate exploitation attempts. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1548.001 which covers privilege escalation through abuse of administrative credentials and session management weaknesses.