CVE-2009-0112 in Poll Pro
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in admin/agent_edit.asp in PollPro 3.0 allows remote attackers to create or modify accounts as administrators via the username, password, and name parameters.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/05/2017
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2009-0112 represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw within the PollPro 3.0 web application administration interface. This vulnerability specifically affects the admin/agent_edit.asp component, which handles administrative account management functions. The flaw enables remote attackers to manipulate administrative account settings without proper authentication by exploiting the absence of proper CSRF protection mechanisms in the affected web application.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the application's failure to validate the origin of HTTP requests made to the agent_edit.asp endpoint. When administrators perform account management operations, the application accepts parameters including username, password, and name without verifying that these requests originate from legitimate administrative sessions. Attackers can craft malicious web pages or exploit existing vulnerabilities in other parts of the application to submit forged requests that execute administrative actions on behalf of authenticated users. This represents a classic CSRF attack pattern where the victim's browser automatically includes session cookies and authentication tokens, enabling unauthorized administrative modifications.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple account manipulation to encompass complete administrative control over the PollPro 3.0 application. An attacker who successfully exploits this CSRF vulnerability can create new administrator accounts, modify existing accounts, change passwords, and potentially gain persistent access to the system. The implications are particularly severe given that this affects the administration interface, which typically holds the highest privilege levels within web applications. This vulnerability directly violates the principle of least privilege and can lead to complete system compromise, data exfiltration, and potential lateral movement within network environments where the vulnerable application resides.
Security professionals should note that this vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery weaknesses in web applications. The flaw demonstrates poor input validation and insufficient request origin verification, common patterns that attackers exploit to bypass authentication mechanisms. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to techniques involving privilege escalation and credential access, as attackers can leverage the administrative capabilities to establish persistent access. Organizations should implement comprehensive CSRF protection mechanisms including anti-CSRF tokens, proper referer header validation, and same-site cookie attributes to prevent such attacks. The remediation process requires developers to ensure that all administrative functions validate request authenticity and implement proper session management controls to prevent unauthorized modifications to critical system parameters.