CVE-2011-1482 in PHP-Nuke
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerabilities in mainfile.php in Francisco Burzi PHP-Nuke 8.0 and earlier allow remote attackers to hijack the authentication of administrators for requests that (1) add user accounts or (2) grant the administrative privilege to a user account, related to a Referer check that uses a substring comparison.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/09/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2011-1482 represents a critical cross-site request forgery weakness affecting Francisco Burzi PHP-Nuke version 8.0 and earlier systems. This flaw resides within the mainfile.php component and demonstrates a fundamental failure in the application's security validation mechanisms for administrative operations. The vulnerability specifically targets the Referer header validation process, which employs a flawed substring comparison technique that can be easily circumvented by malicious actors.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from an insufficient validation approach that relies on a simple substring match rather than a comprehensive referer domain verification. When administrators perform sensitive operations such as adding new user accounts or granting administrative privileges, the system should validate that the request originates from an authorized source. However, the current implementation uses a partial string comparison that allows attackers to bypass this security control by crafting requests where the referer header contains the expected domain string anywhere within its value, rather than requiring an exact match against the complete domain path. This approach directly violates security principles outlined in CWE-352, which categorizes CSRF vulnerabilities as a serious threat to web application integrity and authentication mechanisms.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple privilege escalation, as it provides attackers with the ability to completely compromise administrative control over affected PHP-Nuke installations. Successful exploitation allows remote attackers to add arbitrary user accounts with elevated privileges, effectively enabling unauthorized access to the administrative interface. This creates a persistent threat vector that can be leveraged for ongoing compromise of the web application, potentially leading to full system takeover. The vulnerability's classification under the ATT&CK framework as a privilege escalation technique demonstrates its potential for enabling broader attack chains, as compromised administrative accounts can be used to establish backdoors, modify application code, or exfiltrate sensitive data. The fact that this affects administrative functions makes it particularly dangerous as it undermines the core security model of the application.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2011-1482 must address both the immediate vulnerability and prevent similar issues in future implementations. The primary fix involves implementing robust referer header validation that performs complete domain and path matching rather than substring comparisons. Organizations should also implement proper CSRF token mechanisms that are generated per session and validated for each request, providing defense in depth against such attacks. Additionally, the application should enforce strict access controls that require explicit authentication for all administrative operations, regardless of referer header values. Security teams should conduct comprehensive code reviews to identify similar substring comparison patterns throughout the application, as these often indicate broader security weaknesses that may be exploited in other contexts. The vulnerability highlights the importance of following security best practices such as those outlined in OWASP Top Ten and NIST cybersecurity guidelines for web application security.