CVE-2012-0825 in Drupal
Summary
by MITRE
Drupal 6.x before 6.23 and 7.x before 7.11 does not verify that Attribute Exchange (AX) information is signed, which allows remote attackers to modify potentially sensitive AX information without detection via a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/09/2022
The vulnerability described in CVE-2012-0825 affects Drupal content management systems versions 6.x prior to 6.23 and 7.x prior to 7.11, specifically targeting the Attribute Exchange (AX) protocol implementation. This flaw represents a critical security weakness in the authentication and authorization mechanisms of the platform, as it fails to validate the integrity of AX information exchanged during user authentication processes. The issue stems from the absence of proper signature verification for AX attributes, creating a significant attack surface for malicious actors who can exploit this weakness to manipulate sensitive authentication data without detection.
The technical flaw manifests in the lack of cryptographic signature validation within the AX protocol handling within Drupal's authentication modules. Attribute Exchange is an authentication protocol that allows for the exchange of user attributes between identity providers and service providers, commonly used in federated authentication scenarios. When Drupal processes AX information, it does not verify that the received attribute data has been properly signed by the originating identity provider, which means that any attacker capable of intercepting network traffic between the Drupal system and external identity providers can modify the AX data. This vulnerability directly relates to CWE-347, which addresses improper verification of cryptographic signatures, and represents a failure in the principle of integrity verification that is fundamental to secure authentication systems.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe, as it enables man-in-the-middle attacks that can lead to unauthorized access and privilege escalation within Drupal environments. Attackers can exploit this weakness to inject malicious attributes into the authentication flow, potentially gaining elevated privileges or bypassing authentication mechanisms entirely. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it operates silently without detection, as the system accepts modified AX information without validation. This characteristic aligns with ATT&CK technique T1550.001, which describes unauthorized access through manipulation of authentication tokens and attributes, making it a significant threat to organizations relying on Drupal for web applications and content management.
Organizations should immediately upgrade to Drupal versions 6.23 or later and 7.11 or later to remediate this vulnerability, as these releases include proper signature verification for AX information. Additionally, network administrators should implement proper encryption and integrity protection measures, such as TLS 1.2 or higher, to protect communications between Drupal systems and external identity providers. The mitigation strategy should also include monitoring for suspicious authentication patterns and implementing network segmentation to limit the potential impact of successful attacks. Security teams should also consider implementing additional authentication layers and multi-factor authentication mechanisms to reduce the overall risk exposure associated with this vulnerability, as the principle of defense in depth is crucial when addressing authentication-related security flaws.