CVE-2011-2674 in BaserCMS
Summary
by MITRE
BaserCMS before 1.6.12 does not properly restrict additions to the membership of the operators group, which allows remote authenticated users to gain privileges via unspecified vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/11/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2011-2674 affects BaserCMS versions prior to 1.6.12 and represents a critical privilege escalation flaw within the content management system's user access control mechanisms. This vulnerability specifically targets the operators group membership management functionality, creating a pathway for authenticated attackers to elevate their privileges without proper authorization. The issue stems from inadequate input validation and access control enforcement within the application's administrative interfaces, allowing malicious users to manipulate group membership assignments and subsequently gain elevated permissions.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability lies in the insufficient sanitization of user inputs when modifying operator group memberships. Attackers can exploit this weakness by leveraging their authenticated session to submit crafted requests that bypass normal access controls governing group assignment operations. The unspecified vectors mentioned in the description indicate that multiple attack pathways exist within the system's privilege management logic, potentially involving direct API calls, web interface manipulations, or parameter tampering. This flaw operates at the application level and requires only authenticated access, making it particularly dangerous as it can be exploited by users who already have some level of access to the system.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability creates a significant security risk for BaserCMS installations as it allows attackers to escalate their privileges from standard user or operator roles to full administrative access. The compromised system could then be used to modify content, create new user accounts, access sensitive data, or even install malicious code. The vulnerability affects the fundamental integrity of the application's access control model and could lead to complete system compromise if exploited successfully. Organizations relying on affected BaserCMS versions face potential data breaches, unauthorized modifications, and loss of system integrity that could result in regulatory compliance violations and reputational damage.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-284, which addresses improper access control mechanisms in software applications, specifically targeting the weakness in group membership management and privilege escalation. From an adversary perspective, this flaw maps to ATT&CK technique T1078.004 for valid accounts and T1548.001 for privilege escalation, as attackers can leverage existing authenticated sessions to gain higher privileges. Organizations should immediately implement the vendor-provided patch for BaserCMS version 1.6.12 or higher to remediate this vulnerability. Additional mitigations include implementing network segmentation, monitoring access control changes, enforcing strict input validation, and conducting regular security assessments of the application's authentication and authorization mechanisms. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of proper access control implementation and the potential consequences of inadequate privilege management in web applications.