CVE-2010-2859 in SimpNews
Summary
by MITRE
news.php in SimpNews 2.47.3 and earlier allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive information via an invalid lang parameter, which reveals the installation path in an error message.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/06/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2010-2859 affects SimpNews version 2.47.3 and earlier, representing a critical information disclosure flaw that exposes sensitive system details to remote attackers. This vulnerability resides within the news.php script and demonstrates a classic improper error handling weakness that can be exploited through manipulation of the lang parameter. The flaw enables adversaries to construct malicious requests that trigger error messages containing the server's installation path, thereby providing attackers with valuable reconnaissance information that can be used for subsequent exploitation attempts. The vulnerability directly relates to CWE-209, which describes improper error message information exposure, and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1212 for exploitation of information disclosure vulnerabilities. The affected SimpNews application fails to properly validate or sanitize user input parameters, specifically the lang parameter, allowing arbitrary data to be processed without adequate security controls. This oversight creates an attack surface where an attacker can probe the application with invalid language codes to elicit error responses that inadvertently reveal the absolute file path where the application is installed on the server filesystem.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple information disclosure, as the exposed installation path can serve as a foundational element for more sophisticated attacks. Attackers can leverage this information to craft targeted attacks against the specific server environment, potentially identifying other vulnerabilities through path-based reconnaissance or planning directory traversal attacks. The vulnerability's remote exploitability means that attackers do not require physical access or local privileges to exploit this weakness, making it particularly dangerous for web applications. The error message disclosure can provide attackers with insights into the server's directory structure, operating system type, and potentially even the web server configuration, all of which can be leveraged to refine attack strategies. This type of information leakage can significantly reduce the attack surface complexity for threat actors and may enable them to bypass other security controls that would otherwise prevent successful exploitation.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2010-2859 should focus on implementing proper input validation and error handling mechanisms within the SimpNews application. The most effective approach involves sanitizing all user-supplied parameters, particularly those used for language selection, to ensure that only predefined valid values are accepted. Application developers should implement robust error handling that prevents the exposure of internal system information in error messages, instead logging detailed errors internally while displaying generic messages to end users. The fix should include implementing a whitelist validation approach for the lang parameter, where only known and approved language codes are processed, with all other values being rejected or defaulted to a safe value. Organizations should also consider implementing proper logging and monitoring of error conditions to detect potential exploitation attempts. Additionally, the application should be upgraded to a patched version of SimpNews that addresses this vulnerability, as the original version contains fundamental security flaws that may expose other sensitive information beyond just the installation path. Regular security assessments and code reviews should be conducted to identify similar improper error handling patterns that could lead to information disclosure vulnerabilities in other components of the application stack.