CVE-2011-4403 in Zen Cart
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerabilities in Zen Cart 1.3.9h allow remote attackers to hijack the authentication of administrators for requests that (1) delete a product via a delete_product_confirm action to product.php or (2) disable a product via a setflag action to categories.php.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/09/2025
The CVE-2011-4403 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery issue discovered in Zen Cart version 1.3.9h, a widely used open-source e-commerce platform. This vulnerability stems from the absence of proper CSRF protection mechanisms within the administrative interfaces of the application, creating a significant security risk for online stores that rely on this platform. The flaw specifically affects the administrative sections of Zen Cart where authorized users can perform critical operations such as product management and category modifications, making it particularly dangerous for e-commerce environments where administrative privileges are frequently used.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability exploits the lack of anti-CSRF tokens or similar protective measures in the targeted administrative endpoints. Attackers can craft malicious web pages or links that, when visited by an authenticated administrator, automatically submit requests to the vulnerable Zen Cart installation. The two primary attack vectors involve the delete_product_confirm action within product.php and the setflag action within categories.php, both of which allow for destructive operations without proper authentication verification. These actions are designed to execute administrative functions that require elevated privileges, but the absence of CSRF protection means that any authenticated user session can be exploited to perform these operations without the administrator's knowledge or consent.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data loss or modification, as it can lead to complete compromise of e-commerce operations. An attacker who successfully exploits these CSRF vulnerabilities could delete critical products from the inventory, disable entire product categories, or potentially cause revenue loss through unauthorized product modifications. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it targets administrative functions that are fundamental to e-commerce operations, allowing attackers to disrupt business continuity, manipulate pricing information, or remove products that generate revenue. Additionally, the ease with which these attacks can be constructed and executed makes them particularly dangerous in environments where administrators may unknowingly click on malicious links or visit compromised websites while logged into their Zen Cart administrative interfaces.
This vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery weaknesses in software applications, and corresponds to techniques described in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the T1548.001 tactic for abuse of privileges. Organizations using Zen Cart 1.3.9h should immediately implement mitigation strategies including the deployment of anti-CSRF tokens for all administrative actions, proper session management practices, and the implementation of Content Security Policy headers to prevent unauthorized script execution. The most effective remediation involves updating to a patched version of Zen Cart or implementing custom CSRF protection mechanisms that validate request origins and include unique tokens for each administrative session. Security teams should also conduct comprehensive audits of all administrative interfaces to identify similar vulnerabilities and establish monitoring procedures to detect unauthorized administrative activities that could indicate successful exploitation attempts.