CVE-2010-3464 in SantaFox
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in admin/manager_users.class.php in SantaFox 2.02, and possibly earlier, allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of administrators for requests, as demonstrated by adding administrative users via the save_admin action to admin/index.php.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/07/2019
The CVE-2010-3464 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw discovered in SantaFox 2.02 content management system, specifically within the admin/manager_users.class.php component. This vulnerability exposes the administrative interface to unauthorized manipulation by malicious actors who can exploit the lack of proper authentication verification mechanisms. The flaw enables remote attackers to forge requests that appear to originate from legitimate administrators, effectively bypassing the authentication controls that should protect sensitive administrative functions. The vulnerability is particularly concerning as it directly targets the core administrative user management functionality, allowing attackers to perform privileged actions without proper authorization.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the absence of anti-forgery tokens or similar validation mechanisms within the administrative user management interface. When administrators perform actions such as adding new administrative users through the save_admin action in admin/index.php, the system fails to verify that the request originates from an authenticated administrator session. This design flaw allows attackers to craft malicious web pages or exploit existing vulnerabilities to trick administrators into executing unauthorized administrative commands. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and specifically affects the authentication and authorization mechanisms that should protect administrative functions from unauthorized access.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple privilege escalation, as it provides attackers with the capability to establish persistent administrative control over affected systems. Once exploited, attackers can add new administrative accounts, modify existing user permissions, and potentially gain complete control over the SantaFox installation. This represents a significant threat to system integrity and confidentiality, as the vulnerability allows for unauthorized access to sensitive administrative functions that should be restricted to legitimate administrators only. The attack vector is particularly dangerous because it requires no privileged access or credentials from the attacker, relying instead on social engineering or exploitation of existing browser sessions.
Security professionals should note that this vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery weaknesses in software applications. The flaw demonstrates poor input validation and authentication practices that violate fundamental security principles for protecting administrative interfaces. Organizations should implement comprehensive mitigation strategies including the immediate deployment of anti-CSRF tokens in all administrative forms, proper session management controls, and input validation mechanisms that verify request authenticity. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this vulnerability under privilege escalation techniques, specifically targeting the credential access and persistence tactics that allow adversaries to establish long-term control over affected systems. Remediation efforts must include thorough code review processes to identify similar vulnerabilities in other administrative components and implementation of robust authentication verification mechanisms across all privileged functions.