CVE-2012-0317 in Movable Type
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerabilities in Movable Type before 4.38, 5.0x before 5.07, and 5.1x before 5.13 allow remote attackers to hijack the authentication of arbitrary users for requests that modify data via the (1) commenting feature or (2) community script.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/30/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2012-0317 represents a critical cross-site request forgery issue affecting Movable Type content management systems across multiple versions. This flaw exists within the authentication and authorization mechanisms of the platform, specifically targeting the commenting feature and community script functionality. The vulnerability allows remote attackers to exploit the system's trust in legitimate user sessions, enabling unauthorized actions that can compromise user accounts and data integrity. These CSRF vulnerabilities are particularly dangerous because they can be leveraged to perform administrative actions without proper authorization, potentially leading to complete system compromise.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient validation of request origins and lack of proper anti-CSRF token mechanisms within the affected Movable Type versions. When users interact with the commenting feature or community scripts, the system fails to verify that requests originate from legitimate sources within the same session context. This weakness creates an opportunity for attackers to craft malicious requests that appear to come from authenticated users, exploiting the trust relationship between the web application and its users. The vulnerability specifically affects versions prior to 4.38, 5.07, and 5.13, indicating that these releases contained inadequate protection against forged requests that could manipulate user sessions and execute unauthorized operations.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data modification, potentially enabling attackers to gain persistent access to user accounts and perform administrative functions within the content management system. Remote attackers could leverage these CSRF flaws to post malicious comments, modify user permissions, or even delete content, all while appearing to be legitimate users. The implications are particularly severe for websites relying on user-generated content, as attackers could manipulate community features to spread malicious content or disrupt user interactions. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses cross-site request forgery conditions in web applications, and represents a common attack vector that has been consistently documented in security assessments and penetration testing reports.
Organizations using affected Movable Type versions should implement immediate mitigations including updating to patched releases, implementing proper anti-CSRF token validation, and ensuring all user sessions are properly authenticated. The recommended approach involves deploying CSRF tokens that are generated per session and validated on each request, preventing attackers from crafting valid requests without legitimate session context. Additionally, implementing proper origin validation and using the same-site cookie attributes can provide additional layers of protection. This vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date security patches and implementing proper web application security controls, particularly for content management systems that handle user authentication and data modification operations. The attack pattern associated with this vulnerability maps to ATT&CK technique T1566.001, which covers credential harvesting through social engineering and web application attacks, emphasizing the need for comprehensive security measures to protect against unauthorized access and data manipulation.