CVE-2011-2085 in Best Practical
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerabilities in Best Practical Solutions RT before 3.8.12 and 4.x before 4.0.6 allow remote attackers to hijack the authentication of arbitrary users.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/03/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2011-2085 represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw affecting Best Practical Solutions RT ticketing system across multiple version ranges. This vulnerability resides in the authentication handling mechanisms of the application, specifically in how it processes and validates user sessions. The issue enables malicious actors to exploit the lack of proper CSRF protection measures, allowing them to execute unauthorized actions on behalf of authenticated users without their knowledge or consent. The vulnerability affects both the 3.8.x series prior to 3.8.12 and the 4.x series prior to 4.0.6, indicating a widespread impact across different major releases of the software.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the absence of anti-CSRF tokens or similar validation mechanisms within the application's request processing pipeline. When users navigate to legitimate pages within the RT application, their session cookies are automatically included with each request, creating a persistent authentication context. Attackers can craft malicious web pages or emails containing embedded requests that, when triggered by an authenticated user, execute unintended operations within the RT system. These operations can include creating new users, modifying existing user permissions, accessing restricted data, or performing administrative actions that compromise system integrity and user privacy. The vulnerability operates at the application layer where session management and request validation should occur, making it particularly dangerous as it bypasses normal authentication checks.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data theft or modification, as it fundamentally undermines the trust model of the RT system. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability can establish persistent unauthorized access to the ticketing system, potentially gaining access to sensitive customer information, internal communications, and system configuration data. The remote nature of the attack means that exploitation can occur from any location without requiring physical access to the system infrastructure. This vulnerability directly maps to CWE-352, which defines Cross-Site Request Forgery as a weakness where a web application fails to prevent unauthorized actions initiated by authenticated users. The attack vector aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566.002, which describes the use of malicious links or web pages to conduct phishing attacks and CSRF exploits against web applications.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate application of the vendor-provided patches that address the CSRF token implementation in the affected versions. Organizations should ensure that all instances of RT are updated to versions 3.8.12 or 4.0.6, which contain the necessary CSRF protection mechanisms. Additionally, network-level security controls including web application firewalls and content filtering solutions should be configured to monitor for suspicious request patterns that may indicate CSRF attack attempts. Administrators should also implement proper session management practices including secure cookie attributes, session timeout configurations, and regular security audits of the application's authentication mechanisms. The vulnerability highlights the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date software versions and implementing robust security controls to prevent unauthorized access to enterprise systems.