CVE-2009-1826 in myGesuad
Summary
by MITRE
modules/admuser.php in myGesuad 0.9.14 (aka 0.9) does not require administrative authentication, which allows remote authenticated users to list user accounts via a Find action.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/29/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2009-1826 resides within the myGesuad 0.9.14 web application, specifically in the modules/admuser.php file. This represents a critical authorization flaw that undermines the application's security model by failing to enforce proper administrative authentication checks. The vulnerability affects the application's user management functionality, where the Find action is accessible to authenticated users without requiring administrative privileges. This misconfiguration creates a significant security risk as it allows unauthorized users to enumerate user accounts within the system, potentially exposing sensitive information about the user base and enabling further attacks such as targeted credential harvesting or social engineering attempts.
The technical flaw manifests as a missing access control validation mechanism within the administrative user management module. When an authenticated user accesses the Find action through modules/admuser.php, the application fails to verify whether the requesting user possesses administrative privileges before executing the account listing operation. This design oversight directly violates the principle of least privilege and demonstrates a fundamental breakdown in the application's authorization architecture. The vulnerability operates at the application logic level, where proper authentication checks should have been implemented to ensure only authorized administrative users can access sensitive user management functions. This weakness aligns with CWE-285, which categorizes improper authorization vulnerabilities as a critical concern in software security.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple information disclosure, as it provides attackers with valuable reconnaissance data that can facilitate more sophisticated attacks. An authenticated user who discovers this vulnerability can systematically enumerate all user accounts within the system, potentially identifying valid usernames for brute force attacks against passwords or session tokens. The ability to list user accounts creates opportunities for account takeover attempts, credential stuffing attacks, and other forms of targeted exploitation. From an attacker's perspective, this vulnerability represents a low-effort, high-impact entry point that can significantly weaken the overall security posture of the application. The vulnerability also violates several ATT&CK framework concepts including T1087.001 (Account Discovery: Local Account) and T1566 (Phishing), as it enables the enumeration of accounts that could be targeted in subsequent attacks.
The remediation strategy for this vulnerability requires implementing proper administrative authentication checks within the modules/admuser.php file. The application must verify that the authenticated user possesses appropriate administrative privileges before allowing access to the Find action and account listing functionality. This can be achieved through various mechanisms including session-based privilege verification, role-based access controls, or explicit administrative credential validation before executing sensitive operations. Security patches should enforce that only users with administrative roles or specific permissions can access the user management features. Organizations should also implement comprehensive access control logging to monitor for unauthorized attempts to access administrative functions. The fix should be aligned with security best practices outlined in NIST SP 800-53 and ISO 27001 standards, ensuring that access controls are properly enforced and that privilege escalation attempts are prevented. Regular security testing and code reviews should be conducted to identify similar authorization flaws in other application modules and prevent future occurrences of this type of vulnerability.