CVE-2011-1954 in Post Revolution
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerabilities in Post Revolution 0.8.0c-2 and earlier allow remote attackers to hijack the authentication of arbitrary users for requests to (1) ajax-weblog-guardar.php, (2) verpost.php, (3) comments.php, or (4) perfil.php.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/25/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2011-1954 represents a critical cross-site request forgery issue affecting Post Revolution versions 0.8.0c-2 and earlier. This flaw resides in the web application's failure to implement proper anti-CSRF mechanisms, creating a significant security risk that can be exploited by remote attackers to manipulate authenticated user sessions. The vulnerability specifically targets four key application endpoints including ajax-weblog-guardar.php, verpost.php, comments.php, and perfil.php, all of which are susceptible to unauthorized actions being performed on behalf of authenticated users.
Cross-site request forgery vulnerabilities occur when a web application fails to validate the origin of HTTP requests, allowing malicious actors to trick users into executing unintended actions. The affected Post Revolution application does not implement adequate CSRF tokens or referer validation mechanisms, making it possible for attackers to craft malicious requests that appear legitimate to the web server. This weakness directly maps to CWE-352, which defines Cross-Site Request Forgery as a security vulnerability where the attacker can trick authenticated users into performing actions they did not intend to execute.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is substantial as it enables attackers to hijack user sessions and perform unauthorized operations across multiple application functions. An attacker could potentially modify user profiles through perfil.php, manipulate blog posts via ajax-weblog-guardar.php, or alter comment structures in comments.php. The most dangerous aspect of this vulnerability is that it allows for arbitrary user authentication hijacking, meaning an attacker could gain control over any authenticated user's session and perform actions with their privileges. This creates a pathway for data manipulation, information disclosure, and potential account takeovers that could affect all users of the vulnerable application.
From an attack perspective, this vulnerability aligns with several ATT&CK techniques including T1566 for credential access through social engineering and T1071 for application layer protocol usage. The exploitation typically involves crafting malicious web pages or email attachments that contain embedded requests to the vulnerable endpoints. The attack requires minimal technical expertise but can yield significant damage due to the broad scope of affected functions. Organizations using this vulnerable software face the risk of unauthorized content modification, user account compromise, and potential data breaches.
The recommended mitigation strategies include implementing robust CSRF token validation mechanisms across all state-changing requests, ensuring that each HTTP request contains a unique, unpredictable token that is validated server-side. Additionally, implementing referer header validation and using SameSite cookies can provide additional layers of protection. The most effective solution involves upgrading to a patched version of Post Revolution that includes proper CSRF protection measures. Organizations should also implement comprehensive input validation and ensure that all user-initiated requests are properly authenticated and authorized before processing. Regular security assessments and penetration testing can help identify similar vulnerabilities in other web applications within the organization's infrastructure, preventing similar attacks from compromising other systems.