CVE-2008-3222 in Drupal
Summary
by MITRE
Session fixation vulnerability in Drupal 5.x before 5.9 and 6.x before 6.3, when contributed modules "terminate the current request during a login event," allows remote attackers to hijack web sessions via unknown vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/01/2021
The CVE-2008-3222 vulnerability represents a critical session fixation weakness that affected Drupal core versions 5.x prior to 5.9 and 6.x prior to 6.3. This vulnerability specifically emerged when contributed modules executed code that terminated the current request during a login event, creating exploitable conditions for remote attackers to hijack active web sessions. The flaw exploited the fundamental session management mechanisms within Drupal's authentication framework, where session identifiers were not properly regenerated upon user authentication, leaving sessions vulnerable to manipulation.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from Drupal's session handling process during authentication events. When a user logged in and a contributed module executed a request termination during the login process, the system failed to generate a new session identifier, allowing attackers to maintain control over a session that had been established before authentication. This weakness directly relates to CWE-384, which addresses session fixation vulnerabilities where applications fail to invalidate or regenerate session identifiers upon successful authentication, and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1563.002 for credential access through session hijacking. The vulnerability's exploitation vector remains ambiguous in the original description, suggesting that attackers could leverage unknown methods to establish and maintain control over user sessions through the interaction between core authentication logic and module behavior.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple session hijacking to encompass broader security implications for Drupal-based web applications. Attackers could potentially access user accounts with elevated privileges, perform unauthorized actions, and maintain persistent access to systems without detection. The vulnerability's presence in both Drupal 5.x and 6.x versions created widespread exposure across numerous websites, particularly those utilizing contributed modules that terminated requests during authentication events. This vulnerability directly undermines the principle of least privilege and can lead to complete system compromise when combined with other exploitation techniques. The security implications are compounded by the fact that session fixation attacks often go undetected in network monitoring systems, as they appear as legitimate user activity.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should implement immediate remediation measures including upgrading to Drupal versions 5.9 or 6.3 respectively, which contain patches addressing the session regeneration issue. Additionally, administrators should review and audit contributed modules that interact with authentication events to ensure they do not terminate requests during login processes. The mitigation strategy should include implementing proper session management practices such as generating new session identifiers upon successful authentication, setting appropriate session timeout values, and monitoring for suspicious session activity. Security teams should also consider implementing additional protective measures like secure session cookie attributes, HTTP-only flags, and secure transmission protocols to prevent exploitation of similar vulnerabilities. This vulnerability highlights the importance of proper session management in web applications and the need for comprehensive security testing of module interactions with core authentication mechanisms.