CVE-2008-3221 in Drupal
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Drupal 6.x before 6.3 allows remote attackers to perform administrative actions via vectors involving deletion of OpenID identities.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/01/2021
The CVE-2008-3221 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw in Drupal 6.x versions prior to 6.3 that enables remote attackers to execute administrative actions without proper authorization. This vulnerability specifically targets the OpenID identity management functionality within the Drupal content management system, creating a significant security risk for organizations relying on this platform for web content management and user authentication. The flaw exploits the lack of proper request validation mechanisms that should verify the authenticity and origin of administrative requests, particularly those involving sensitive operations like identity deletion.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from insufficient validation of HTTP requests within the Drupal administration interface. When users with administrative privileges access certain administrative pages, the system fails to properly verify that requests originate from legitimate administrative sessions rather than maliciously crafted requests from external domains. The vulnerability specifically affects the OpenID identity deletion functionality where an attacker can construct a malicious request that, when executed by an authenticated administrator, results in the unintended deletion of OpenID identities. This occurs because the system does not implement proper anti-CSRF tokens or referer validation checks that would normally prevent unauthorized requests from being processed as legitimate administrative actions.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple identity deletion, as it demonstrates a fundamental flaw in Drupal's administrative request handling that could potentially allow attackers to perform other administrative operations. An attacker could leverage this vulnerability to manipulate user accounts, modify content, or compromise the overall integrity of the Drupal installation. The attack vector typically involves tricking an administrator into visiting a malicious website that contains embedded requests to the vulnerable Drupal site, making it particularly dangerous in environments where administrators frequently browse untrusted websites or where social engineering attacks are common. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses cross-site request forgery weaknesses in web applications.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should immediately upgrade to Drupal 6.3 or later versions where the CSRF protection mechanisms have been properly implemented. The fix typically involves the introduction of anti-CSRF tokens that are generated for each administrative session and validated against incoming requests, preventing unauthorized operations from being executed. Additionally, system administrators should review their current Drupal configurations and ensure that proper access controls are in place to limit administrative privileges to only necessary personnel. Security monitoring should be enhanced to detect suspicious administrative activities, and user education programs should be implemented to raise awareness about the risks of visiting untrusted websites while logged into administrative sessions. This vulnerability also highlights the importance of implementing the principle of least privilege and following ATT&CK framework recommendations for defending against credential access and privilege escalation techniques that could exploit similar CSRF vulnerabilities in web applications.