CVE-2009-1757 in Transmission
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Transmission 1.5 before 1.53 and 1.6 before 1.61 allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of unspecified victims via unknown vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/11/2021
The CVE-2009-1757 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw discovered in the Transmission BitTorrent client software. This vulnerability affects versions prior to 1.5.3 and 1.6.1, creating a significant security risk for users who rely on the application for peer-to-peer file sharing activities. The flaw enables remote attackers to manipulate authenticated sessions by tricking victims into executing unintended actions through forged requests that appear to originate from legitimate sources within the application's trusted environment. The vulnerability specifically targets the authentication mechanisms of Transmission, potentially allowing unauthorized access to user accounts and system resources.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the application's insufficient validation of request origins and lack of proper anti-CSRF token mechanisms within its web interface. When users access the Transmission web UI, the application fails to adequately verify that incoming requests originate from legitimate sources within the same session context. Attackers can exploit this weakness by crafting malicious web pages or email attachments that contain embedded requests designed to manipulate Transmission's functionality without the victim's knowledge or consent. The vulnerability operates through the exploitation of the browser's automatic handling of cookies and session information, which Transmission relies upon for authentication purposes.
The operational impact of CVE-2009-1757 extends beyond simple unauthorized access, potentially enabling attackers to perform critical administrative functions within the Transmission application. An attacker could manipulate download queues, modify configuration settings, access shared files, or even gain control over the entire BitTorrent client operation. This represents a serious threat to users who have configured Transmission to run with elevated privileges or who share sensitive files through the application. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous in environments where Transmission is exposed to untrusted networks or where users may inadvertently visit malicious websites while the application is running with active sessions.
This vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery weaknesses in software applications. The flaw demonstrates poor input validation and insufficient session management practices that violate fundamental security principles outlined in various cybersecurity frameworks including the OWASP Top Ten. From an ATT&CK perspective, this vulnerability maps to techniques involving credential access and privilege escalation through web application exploitation, potentially allowing attackers to move laterally within networks where Transmission is deployed. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including updating to patched versions of Transmission, configuring proper firewall rules to limit access to the web interface, and educating users about avoiding suspicious web content. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of proper security testing for web-based administrative interfaces in network applications, emphasizing that even seemingly benign applications can present significant attack vectors when proper CSRF protections are not implemented.