CVE-2009-3949 in Infinity Script
Summary
by MITRE
cp/profile.php in VivaPrograms Infinity 2.0.5 and earlier does not require administrative authentication for the donewauthor action, which allows remote attackers to create administrative accounts via the name, password, and conf_password parameters.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/04/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2009-3949 resides within the VivaPrograms Infinity content management system version 2.0.5 and earlier, specifically targeting the cp/profile.php component. This flaw represents a critical authentication bypass vulnerability that fundamentally undermines the system's access control mechanisms. The issue manifests when the donewauthor action is invoked without proper administrative authentication requirements, creating a pathway for unauthorized remote attackers to escalate their privileges within the application.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and authentication checks within the profile management functionality. Attackers can exploit this weakness by submitting specifically crafted requests containing name, password, and conf_password parameters directly to the cp/profile.php endpoint. The system fails to verify whether the requesting user possesses administrative privileges before executing the donewauthor action, effectively allowing any remote user to create new administrative accounts. This represents a classic privilege escalation vulnerability that operates at the application logic level rather than through network-level attacks.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and far-reaching within the context of web application security. An attacker who can reach the vulnerable system can immediately establish persistence by creating administrative accounts, potentially gaining complete control over the content management system. This allows for unauthorized content modification, user account manipulation, data exfiltration, and the ability to conduct further attacks against the underlying infrastructure. The vulnerability's remote exploitability means that attackers do not require physical access or network proximity to the system, making it particularly dangerous in publicly accessible environments.
From a cybersecurity framework perspective, this vulnerability maps directly to CWE-862, which describes insufficient authorization checks, and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1078 for valid accounts and T1566 for credential harvesting. The flaw demonstrates poor security by design principles where authentication controls are not properly enforced at the application level. Organizations using affected versions of VivaPrograms Infinity face significant risk of unauthorized access and potential data breaches. The vulnerability's exploitation requires minimal technical skill and can be automated, making it attractive to both skilled and unskilled attackers.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should prioritize immediate patching of the affected VivaPrograms Infinity versions to the latest available releases that contain proper authentication controls. Organizations should implement network segmentation to limit access to administrative interfaces, enforce strong access controls through web application firewalls, and conduct regular security assessments of their content management systems. Additionally, the principle of least privilege should be enforced by restricting administrative access to only necessary personnel and implementing multi-factor authentication for administrative accounts. Regular security monitoring and log analysis should be implemented to detect unauthorized account creation attempts, and incident response procedures should be established to address potential exploitation of this vulnerability.