CVE-2008-6760 in Shop
Summary
by MITRE
ViArt Shop (aka Shopping Cart) 3.5 allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive information via an unauthenticated add and save action for a shopping cart in cart_save.php, which reveals the SQL table names in an error message, related to code that mishandles the lack of a user_id parameter.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/06/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2008-6760 affects ViArt Shop version 3.5, a web-based shopping cart system that falls under the category of e-commerce platforms. This vulnerability represents a critical information disclosure issue that exposes sensitive database structure information to unauthenticated remote attackers. The flaw manifests specifically within the cart_save.php script which handles the addition and saving of items to a shopping cart without proper authentication requirements. The system's failure to adequately validate user credentials or parameters creates an exploitable condition where unauthorized users can trigger error messages containing SQL table names.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability stems from improper input validation and error handling within the application's cart management functionality. When a user attempts to save a shopping cart item without providing the required user_id parameter, the system fails to gracefully handle this missing information. Instead of implementing proper error handling or parameter validation, the application proceeds to execute database operations that ultimately generate error messages containing raw SQL table names. This behavior directly violates security best practices for error message handling and demonstrates poor input sanitization. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-200, which addresses improper handling of sensitive information in error messages, and represents a classic example of how insufficient parameter validation can lead to information disclosure.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple information disclosure, as the revelation of SQL table names provides attackers with critical intelligence for potential subsequent attacks. Attackers can leverage the disclosed table names to construct targeted SQL injection payloads or to map the database schema for more sophisticated exploitation attempts. The unauthenticated nature of the vulnerability means that any remote user can access this information without requiring login credentials or privileged access, making the attack surface particularly broad. This type of information disclosure vulnerability can be categorized under the ATT&CK framework's T1083 (File and Directory Discovery) and T1213 (Data from Information Repositories) techniques, as it enables adversaries to gather reconnaissance information about the target system's data structure.
Security professionals should implement multiple layers of mitigation for this vulnerability. The primary remediation involves strengthening input validation within the cart_save.php script to ensure that all required parameters are properly checked before database operations are initiated. The system should enforce authentication requirements for cart manipulation functions and implement proper error handling that does not expose database internals to end users. Additionally, developers should implement generic error messages that do not contain sensitive information about database structure or SQL queries. The application should also employ proper parameter binding techniques to prevent SQL injection attacks that could be facilitated by the disclosed table names. Organizations should conduct regular security assessments and implement proper logging mechanisms to detect and respond to exploitation attempts targeting this vulnerability.