CVE-2008-2497 in Mambo
Summary
by MITRE
CRLF injection vulnerability in Mambo before 4.6.4 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary HTTP headers and conduct HTTP response splitting attacks via unspecified vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/25/2018
The CVE-2008-2497 vulnerability represents a critical CRLF injection flaw discovered in Mambo content management systems prior to version 4.6.4. This vulnerability falls under the CWE-113 category, which specifically addresses improper neutralization of CRLF characters within HTTP headers, making it a direct descendant of the well-known HTTP response splitting attack vector. The flaw enables remote attackers to manipulate the HTTP protocol by injecting carriage return line feed sequences into response headers, potentially allowing for malicious redirection, session hijacking, or cross-site scripting attacks through crafted input vectors. The vulnerability's impact extends beyond simple header manipulation as it fundamentally compromises the integrity of HTTP responses that applications depend upon for secure communication.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability occurs when Mambo fails to properly sanitize user input before incorporating it into HTTP response headers. CRLF injection exploits the inherent structure of HTTP protocols where headers are separated by carriage return line feed sequences, and when these sequences are injected into header values, they can create additional headers in the HTTP response. Attackers can leverage this weakness by crafting malicious input that includes %0d%0a sequences, which translate to CRLF characters in the HTTP protocol, allowing them to inject arbitrary headers such as Set-Cookie, Location, or Content-Type directives. The unspecified vectors mentioned in the description suggest that multiple input points within the Mambo application could serve as attack surfaces, potentially including form inputs, URL parameters, or user-generated content fields that are processed and returned in HTTP responses.
The operational impact of CVE-2008-2497 is significant for organizations running affected Mambo versions, as it enables sophisticated attack scenarios that can bypass security controls and compromise user sessions. When successfully exploited, the vulnerability allows attackers to perform HTTP response splitting attacks that can result in session fixation, cross-site scripting, or cache poisoning attacks. The vulnerability's exploitation can lead to unauthorized access to user accounts, data exfiltration, or the redirection of users to malicious websites. According to ATT&CK framework category T1190, this vulnerability maps to the exploitation of vulnerabilities in web applications, specifically targeting the manipulation of HTTP responses. The attack surface becomes particularly dangerous when combined with other vulnerabilities, as it can be used to create persistent security issues that affect the entire web application stack.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2008-2497 require immediate implementation of input validation and output encoding mechanisms to prevent CRLF character injection into HTTP headers. Organizations should ensure that all user-supplied input is properly sanitized and validated before being processed or included in HTTP responses. The most effective approach involves implementing strict input filtering that removes or encodes CRLF sequences from any data that may be included in HTTP headers, which aligns with the principles outlined in OWASP Top 10 security guidelines. System administrators should also consider implementing web application firewalls and HTTP header sanitization rules to prevent malicious CRLF sequences from reaching the application layer. The most critical remediation step is upgrading to Mambo version 4.6.4 or later, which includes proper input validation and sanitization mechanisms to prevent CRLF injection attacks. Additionally, security monitoring should be implemented to detect anomalous HTTP response patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts, and regular security audits should verify that all input handling mechanisms properly sanitize user data before it is incorporated into HTTP headers or response content.