CVE-2011-0545 in LiveUpdate Administrator
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in adduser.do in Symantec LiveUpdate Administrator (LUA) before 2.3 allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of administrators for requests that create new administrative accounts, and possibly have unspecified other impact, via the userRole parameter.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/28/2024
The cross-site request forgery vulnerability identified as CVE-2011-0545 affects Symantec LiveUpdate Administrator version 2.3 and earlier, representing a critical security flaw in the web-based administrative interface. This vulnerability resides within the adduser.do component of the application, which handles user account creation functionality for administrative users. The flaw enables remote attackers to manipulate the authentication process by tricking administrators into executing unauthorized actions through maliciously crafted requests that appear legitimate. The vulnerability specifically targets the userRole parameter, which controls administrative privileges when creating new user accounts, making it particularly dangerous for privilege escalation attacks.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the absence of proper anti-CSRF mechanisms within the LiveUpdate Administrator web interface. When administrators interact with the adduser.do endpoint, the application fails to validate the authenticity of requests originating from legitimate administrative sessions. Attackers can exploit this by embedding malicious requests within crafted web pages or email attachments that, when visited by an authenticated administrator, automatically submit requests to create new administrative accounts with elevated privileges. The userRole parameter becomes the primary vector for privilege manipulation, allowing attackers to potentially establish accounts with full administrative access or other unspecified impacts that could compromise the entire system.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple account creation, as it provides attackers with a potential foothold for broader system compromise. An attacker who successfully exploits this CSRF vulnerability can establish persistent administrative access to the LiveUpdate Administrator system, potentially enabling them to modify update policies, disable security features, or even gain access to sensitive system information. The vulnerability's remote nature means attackers do not require physical access or network-level privileges to exploit it, making it particularly concerning for enterprise environments where administrators frequently access web-based management interfaces. This type of vulnerability directly violates the principle of least privilege and can lead to complete system compromise when combined with other exploitation techniques.
Organizations should immediately implement mitigations including upgrading to Symantec LiveUpdate Administrator version 2.3 or later, which contains the necessary patches to address this vulnerability. Additional protective measures include implementing proper anti-CSRF tokens within all administrative web forms, enabling session management controls, and deploying web application firewalls to detect and block suspicious cross-site requests. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses cross-site request forgery weaknesses, and follows patterns commonly associated with ATT&CK technique T1078.004 for valid accounts and T1566 for phishing attacks that could leverage this vulnerability. Security teams should also conduct thorough network monitoring for unusual administrative account creation patterns and implement proper access controls to limit the scope of potential compromise.