CVE-2008-5945 in Nukeviet
Summary
by MITRE
Nukeviet 2.0 Beta allows remote attackers to bypass authentication and gain administrative access by setting the admf cookie to 1. NOTE: the provenance of this information is unknown; the details are obtained solely from third party information.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/14/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2008-5945 affects NukeViet 2.0 Beta, a content management system that was widely used for web publishing and portal development during that era. This authentication bypass flaw represents a critical security weakness that directly undermines the system's access control mechanisms. The vulnerability stems from improper validation of administrative privileges within the application's cookie-based authentication system, creating a path for unauthorized users to escalate their privileges without proper credentials.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves a simple yet dangerous parameter manipulation within the application's session management. Specifically, attackers can exploit this weakness by setting the admf cookie value to 1, which effectively grants administrative access to any user who can manipulate this cookie value. This approach bypasses all standard authentication checks and validation procedures that should normally verify user credentials and authorization levels before granting administrative privileges. The vulnerability demonstrates poor input validation and inadequate privilege enforcement mechanisms within the application's core security architecture.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability creates severe consequences for organizations using NukeViet 2.0 Beta systems. An attacker who successfully exploits this flaw can gain complete administrative control over the affected web application, enabling them to modify content, add or remove users, access sensitive data, and potentially use the compromised system as a pivot point for further attacks within the network. The ease of exploitation, requiring only a simple cookie manipulation, makes this vulnerability particularly dangerous as it can be exploited by attackers with minimal technical expertise. This weakness essentially transforms any authenticated user into an administrator, fundamentally compromising the system's security model.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-285, which addresses improper authorization issues in software systems, and represents a classic example of insecure direct object reference or privilege escalation. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to privilege escalation techniques and credential access phases, allowing adversaries to move laterally within compromised environments. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including patching the application to the latest stable version, implementing proper cookie validation mechanisms, and conducting thorough security reviews of all authentication and authorization components. Additionally, network segmentation and monitoring for unauthorized cookie modifications should be implemented to detect potential exploitation attempts. The vulnerability underscores the importance of robust input validation and proper privilege enforcement in web applications, particularly in CMS platforms where administrative access can have far-reaching consequences for entire organizations.