CVE-2009-1802 in FreePBX
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerabilities in FreePBX 2.5.1, and other 2.4.x, 2.5.x, and pre-release 2.6.x versions, allow remote attackers to hijack the authentication of admins for requests that create a new admin account or have unspecified other impact.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/10/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2009-1802 represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw affecting FreePBX versions 2.5.1 and earlier releases within the 2.4.x, 2.5.x, and pre-release 2.6.x series. This CSRF vulnerability exposes the system to remote exploitation where authenticated administrators can be tricked into performing unintended actions without their knowledge or consent. The flaw specifically targets administrative functions that create new administrator accounts or execute other unspecified operations, fundamentally compromising the system's access control mechanisms.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the absence of proper anti-CSRF token validation within the FreePBX administrative interfaces. When administrators navigate to legitimate administrative pages, the system fails to verify that requests originate from authorized sources, allowing malicious actors to craft specially crafted web pages or emails that, when visited by an authenticated administrator, automatically submit requests to the FreePBX system. This weakness aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery vulnerabilities, and demonstrates the critical importance of implementing proper request origin verification mechanisms.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple account creation, as it provides attackers with potential administrative privileges within the telephony system. Successful exploitation could result in complete system compromise, allowing unauthorized users to modify system configurations, access sensitive communications data, or establish persistent backdoors. The unspecified other impacts suggest additional attack vectors that may include privilege escalation or data manipulation within the FreePBX environment, making this vulnerability particularly dangerous for organizations relying on these telephony systems for business-critical communications.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should immediately implement mitigations including the deployment of web application firewalls that can detect and block CSRF attacks, the implementation of proper CSRF token validation mechanisms, and the immediate upgrade to patched versions of FreePBX. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this vulnerability under T1078 for valid accounts and T1566 for social engineering techniques, highlighting the need for both technical controls and user awareness training. Additionally, organizations should conduct comprehensive security assessments of their telephony infrastructure and implement network segmentation to limit the potential impact of such successful exploitation attempts.