CVE-2011-3669 in Bugzilla
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in attachment.cgi in Bugzilla 2.x, 3.x, and 4.x before 4.2rc1 allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of arbitrary users for requests that upload attachments.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/28/2021
The CVE-2011-3669 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw in Bugzilla's attachment.cgi component affecting versions 2.x through 4.x prior to 4.2rc1. This vulnerability operates at the application layer and fundamentally undermines the authentication mechanisms of the Bugzilla issue tracking system. The flaw specifically targets the attachment upload functionality, allowing malicious actors to craft specially crafted web pages or emails that can trigger unauthorized attachment uploads on behalf of authenticated users without their knowledge or consent.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the absence of proper anti-CSRF tokens or validation mechanisms within the attachment.cgi script. When a user accesses a malicious website or clicks on a compromised link while authenticated to Bugzilla, the malicious page can automatically submit requests to the Bugzilla server's attachment upload endpoint. This occurs because the vulnerable system does not verify that the request originated from the legitimate user interface rather than a crafted malicious payload. The flaw exists in the server-side validation logic that fails to enforce proper session integrity checks for attachment upload operations, making it possible for attackers to exploit the trust relationship between the user's browser and the Bugzilla application.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant and multifaceted within organizational security contexts. Attackers can leverage this weakness to upload malicious attachments that may contain malware, phishing content, or other harmful payloads to bug tracking systems that organizations rely upon for critical issue management. The vulnerability enables unauthorized modification of project data, potential information leakage through attachment content, and can serve as a stepping stone for further attacks within the network infrastructure. Organizations using vulnerable Bugzilla versions face risks of data compromise, system integrity violations, and potential escalation to more severe security incidents, particularly in environments where Bugzilla serves as a central communication and issue tracking platform for development teams.
Security mitigations for CVE-2011-3669 primarily involve implementing proper CSRF protection mechanisms such as anti-CSRF tokens that are generated per session and validated on each request. Organizations should immediately upgrade to Bugzilla version 4.2rc1 or later, which includes the necessary patches to address this vulnerability. Additional defensive measures include implementing Content Security Policy headers, validating request origins, and ensuring proper session management practices. From a compliance perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses cross-site request forgery weaknesses, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1566.002 for credential access through social engineering. Organizations should also consider implementing web application firewalls to detect and block suspicious attachment upload patterns, along with regular security assessments to identify similar vulnerabilities in other web applications within their infrastructure.