CVE-2009-4965 in Air Lexicon
Summary
by MITRE
SQL injection vulnerability in the AIRware Lexicon (air_lexicon) extension 0.0.1 for TYPO3 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary SQL commands via unspecified vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/06/2018
The CVE-2009-4965 vulnerability represents a critical sql injection flaw within the AIRware Lexicon extension version 0.0.1 for the TYPO3 content management system. This vulnerability resides in the air_lexicon extension which is designed to provide lexical functionality for TYPO3 websites, making it a potential attack vector for malicious actors seeking to compromise TYPO3 installations. The vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary sql commands without authentication, presenting a significant security risk to organizations relying on this extension for their web content management infrastructure.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from improper input validation and sanitization within the extension's code implementation. When the air_lexicon extension processes user-supplied data through unspecified vectors, it fails to adequately filter or escape sql metacharacters and special characters that could be used to manipulate the underlying database queries. This lack of proper sanitization creates an environment where attackers can inject malicious sql payloads that are subsequently executed by the database server. The vulnerability specifically affects the 0.0.1 version of the extension, indicating that this was likely an early implementation flaw that was not properly addressed in the initial release.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability exposes organizations to severe consequences including unauthorized data access, data modification, and potential complete system compromise. Attackers exploiting this vulnerability could extract sensitive information from the database, modify content on the website, create new administrative accounts, or even delete critical data. The remote nature of the attack means that exploitation can occur from anywhere on the internet without requiring physical access to the server or prior authentication. This makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous as it can be exploited by attackers who discover vulnerable installations through automated scanning tools or by monitoring public databases for exposed systems.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-89 which specifically addresses sql injection flaws in software applications. This categorization indicates that the flaw represents a well-known and extensively documented security weakness that has been recognized by the cybersecurity community for years. From an attack framework perspective, this vulnerability would likely map to multiple ATT&CK techniques including T1190 for exploitation of vulnerabilities, T1071.004 for application layer protocol usage, and potentially T1486 for data manipulation or destruction. Organizations should consider this vulnerability as part of a broader attack surface assessment, particularly in environments where TYPO3 systems are deployed with third-party extensions that may not have undergone comprehensive security review.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate action including upgrading to a patched version of the AIRware Lexicon extension or removing the extension entirely from affected TYPO3 installations. System administrators should also implement proper input validation measures at the application level and consider database-level protections such as least privilege access controls and query parameterization. Network-level protections including web application firewalls and intrusion detection systems can provide additional layers of defense against exploitation attempts. Regular security auditing and vulnerability scanning should be implemented to identify similar issues in other third-party extensions and components that may be present in the TYPO3 environment. Organizations should also maintain current security patches for the TYPO3 core system itself to ensure that the overall platform remains secure against known vulnerabilities that could be exploited to gain access to the database layer.