CVE-2011-2752 in SquirrelMail
Summary
by MITRE
CRLF injection vulnerability in SquirrelMail 1.4.21 and earlier allows remote attackers to modify or add preference values via a \n (newline) character, a different vulnerability than CVE-2010-4555.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/14/2021
The CVE-2011-2752 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site scripting and preference manipulation flaw discovered in SquirrelMail versions 1.4.21 and earlier. This vulnerability specifically targets the application's handling of user input within preference management systems, creating a pathway for remote attackers to inject malicious content through carefully crafted newline characters. The flaw operates by exploiting the insecure processing of user-supplied data in preference settings, allowing adversaries to manipulate session variables and potentially execute unauthorized actions within the application's context.
The technical implementation of this CRLF (Carriage Return Line Feed) injection vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and sanitization within SquirrelMail's preference handling mechanisms. When users submit preference values containing newline characters, the application fails to properly escape or encode these special characters before storing or processing them. This creates an environment where attackers can inject additional HTTP headers or manipulate application behavior by inserting CRLF sequences that terminate existing data streams and introduce malicious content. The vulnerability specifically affects how the application processes user preferences, making it particularly dangerous as it can be exploited to modify critical user settings and session parameters.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple preference manipulation to encompass potential session hijacking and privilege escalation scenarios. Remote attackers can leverage this flaw to inject malicious headers into HTTP responses, potentially redirecting users to malicious sites or injecting content that could be interpreted by web browsers as legitimate application responses. This capability enables attackers to perform various malicious activities including cookie manipulation, session fixation attacks, and unauthorized access to user accounts. The vulnerability's relationship to CVE-2010-4555 demonstrates a pattern of similar injection flaws within the SquirrelMail application, highlighting systemic issues in input validation and data sanitization practices that require comprehensive remediation.
Security professionals should recognize this vulnerability as a variant of CWE-117, which addresses improper output neutralization for logs, and CWE-74, which covers injection flaws in general. The attack vectors align with techniques described in the ATT&CK framework under T1190 for exploitation of remote services and T1059 for command and scripting interpreter usage. Organizations utilizing affected SquirrelMail versions should immediately implement input validation measures, including comprehensive sanitization of user-supplied data, proper encoding of special characters, and regular security updates. The mitigation strategy must encompass both immediate patch deployment and enhanced monitoring of preference management systems to detect and prevent unauthorized modifications to user settings and session parameters.