CVE-2011-5252 in Orchard
Summary
by MITRE
Open redirect vulnerability in Users/Account/LogOff in Orchard 1.0.x before 1.0.21, 1.1.x before 1.1.31, 1.2.x before 1.2.42, and 1.3.x before 1.3.10 allows remote attackers to redirect users to arbitrary web sites and conduct phishing attacks via a URL in the ReturnUrl parameter.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/30/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2011-5252 represents a critical open redirect flaw within the Orchard content management platform that affects multiple version branches including 1.0.x through 1.0.20, 1.1.x through 1.1.30, 1.2.x through 1.2.41, and 1.3.x through 1.3.9. This security weakness resides in the Users/Account/LogOff endpoint where the application fails to properly validate or sanitize the ReturnUrl parameter that users provide during the logout process. The flaw stems from the application's insufficient input validation mechanisms that allow malicious actors to inject arbitrary URLs into the redirect mechanism, effectively bypassing normal security controls designed to maintain user session integrity and prevent unauthorized redirection.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability demonstrates a classic lack of proper parameter sanitization within the Orchard framework's authentication flow. When users navigate to the LogOff endpoint, the system typically expects a ReturnUrl parameter to determine where users should be redirected after successful logout. However, the vulnerability occurs because the application does not validate whether the provided URL belongs to the legitimate application domain or contains malicious redirection targets. This creates an opportunity for attackers to craft malicious URLs with return parameters pointing to phishing sites or other malicious destinations, exploiting the trust users place in the legitimate application interface. The vulnerability directly maps to CWE-601 Open Redirect vulnerability, which is categorized under the broader weakness of insecure redirection mechanisms in web applications. This weakness is particularly dangerous because it leverages the user's existing session and trust relationship with the legitimate application to facilitate malicious activities.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends far beyond simple redirection issues and represents a significant threat to user security and application integrity. Attackers can exploit this flaw to conduct sophisticated phishing campaigns by redirecting users to carefully crafted malicious sites that appear legitimate due to the trusted domain association. When users click on logout links that have been manipulated to include malicious ReturnUrl parameters, they are unknowingly redirected to attacker-controlled websites designed to harvest credentials, personal information, or install malware. This vulnerability undermines the fundamental security principle of least privilege and can be particularly effective in social engineering attacks where users are more likely to trust redirections from known applications. The attack vector aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566.001 Phishing, as it enables the creation of convincing phishing pages that leverage the legitimate application's interface to bypass user suspicion.
Organizations using affected versions of Orchard should immediately implement comprehensive mitigation strategies to address this vulnerability. The primary remediation involves implementing strict URL validation that ensures all ReturnUrl parameters are either explicitly whitelisted to known safe domains or undergo thorough validation against the application's own domain to prevent external redirection. Security teams should also consider implementing additional controls such as validating the referer header, using a secure session management approach that does not rely on external parameters, or implementing a custom redirect handler that maintains a local mapping of valid redirect destinations. Organizations should also conduct thorough security testing to identify any other endpoints within their application that may be vulnerable to similar open redirect flaws, as this represents a systemic issue that can affect various parts of the application's authentication and authorization mechanisms. The vulnerability serves as a reminder of the critical importance of input validation in web applications and the need for comprehensive security testing throughout the software development lifecycle to prevent such flaws from reaching production environments.