CVE-2010-3716 in TYPO3
Summary
by MITRE
The be_user_creation task in TYPO3 4.2.x before 4.2.15 and 4.3.x before 4.3.7 allows remote authenticated users to gain privileges via a crafted POST request that creates a user account with arbitrary group memberships.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/28/2021
The vulnerability described in CVE-2010-3716 represents a critical privilege escalation flaw within the TYPO3 content management system that affects versions prior to specific security patches. This issue resides in the be_user_creation task component which handles backend user account creation functionality. The vulnerability manifests when authenticated users submit specially crafted POST requests that manipulate the group membership parameters during user account creation processes.
The technical flaw stems from insufficient input validation and access control mechanisms within the TYPO3 backend user management system. When an authenticated user submits a POST request to create a new backend user account, the system fails to properly validate the group membership parameters that are included in the request. This allows malicious users to specify arbitrary group IDs that grant them elevated privileges beyond their current access level. The vulnerability specifically affects TYPO3 versions 4.2.x before 4.2.15 and 4.3.x before 4.3.7, indicating this was a widespread issue affecting multiple release branches of the CMS.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant as it enables authenticated attackers to escalate their privileges within the TYPO3 system. An attacker who already has access to a legitimate user account can exploit this flaw to create new user accounts with administrative or elevated group memberships. This effectively allows for privilege escalation attacks where the attacker can gain access to sensitive system functions, modify content, manage other users, and potentially access confidential data. The vulnerability undermines the fundamental security model of the CMS by allowing users to bypass normal access control restrictions through crafted requests.
This vulnerability maps to CWE-264, which describes "Permissions, Privileges, and Access Controls" weaknesses, specifically focusing on insufficient access control validation. From an adversarial perspective, this flaw aligns with ATT&CK technique T1078 which covers valid accounts and T1484 which covers accounts with elevated privileges. The attack vector requires authentication, making it a post-compromise privilege escalation vulnerability rather than an initial access vector. Organizations using affected TYPO3 versions face significant risk as this vulnerability can be exploited by users with minimal privileges to gain system-wide administrative access.
The recommended mitigation strategy involves applying the security patches released by TYPO3 for versions 4.2.15 and 4.3.7, which address the input validation issues in the user creation task. System administrators should also implement additional monitoring of user creation activities and group membership changes within the TYPO3 backend. Network-level controls such as web application firewalls can help detect and block suspicious POST requests targeting the vulnerable user creation endpoints. Regular security audits of CMS installations and proper access control reviews should be conducted to prevent similar vulnerabilities from emerging in other components of the system.