CVE-2008-7221 in RunCMS
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in RunCMS 1.6.1 allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of administrators for requests that (1) add new administrators or (2) modify user profiles via a crafted request to system/admin.php.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/20/2019
The CVE-2008-7221 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw in RunCMS version 1.6.1 that fundamentally undermines the application's administrative security controls. This vulnerability operates by exploiting the absence of proper authentication verification mechanisms in the administrative interface, specifically within the system/admin.php endpoint. The flaw allows remote attackers to manipulate administrative functions through carefully crafted HTTP requests that appear legitimate to the targeted system, thereby bypassing the normal authentication processes that should protect privileged administrative actions.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the application's failure to implement anti-CSRF tokens or other sufficient validation mechanisms within the administrative forms and endpoints. When administrators access the system/admin.php interface to perform sensitive operations such as adding new administrators or modifying user profiles, the application does not verify that these requests originate from authenticated administrative sessions. This omission creates a dangerous condition where an attacker can construct malicious requests that, when executed by an authenticated administrator, perform unauthorized administrative actions without the administrator's knowledge or consent.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple privilege escalation, as it fundamentally compromises the integrity and confidentiality of the entire RunCMS installation. Attackers who successfully exploit this vulnerability can gain unauthorized administrative access to the system, potentially leading to complete system compromise, data theft, or malicious modification of user accounts and system configurations. The vulnerability specifically targets two critical administrative functions that, when compromised, allow attackers to either expand their attack surface by adding new administrator accounts or manipulate existing user profiles to gain persistent access or disrupt system operations.
This vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses cross-site request forgery weaknesses in web applications, and demonstrates a clear violation of the principle of least privilege in web security design. The attack vector operates through standard web browser capabilities, making it particularly dangerous as it requires no special tools or privileges beyond the ability to deliver a crafted request to a logged-in administrator. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to T1078 for valid accounts and T1566 for social engineering techniques, as it exploits the trust relationship between the web application and authenticated users.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2008-7221 should prioritize immediate implementation of anti-CSRF token mechanisms within all administrative interfaces, ensuring that each administrative request contains unique, unpredictable tokens that validate the authenticity of the session. Organizations should also implement proper input validation and request origin verification within the system/admin.php endpoint, requiring additional authentication factors beyond simple session cookies. The most effective long-term solution involves upgrading to a patched version of RunCMS that implements comprehensive CSRF protection mechanisms, including proper token generation, validation, and session management. Additionally, network-level security controls such as web application firewalls and intrusion detection systems can help detect and prevent exploitation attempts, though these should complement rather than replace proper application-level fixes.