CVE-2012-1248 in baserCMS
Summary
by MITRE
app/config/core.php in baserCMS 1.6.15 and earlier does not properly handle installations in shared-hosting environments, which allows remote attackers to hijack sessions by leveraging administrative access to a different domain.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/17/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2012-1248 affects baserCMS versions 1.6.15 and earlier, specifically within the application configuration file located at app/config/core.php. This flaw represents a critical session management weakness that exploits the improper handling of shared hosting environments where multiple domains may be hosted on the same server infrastructure. The vulnerability arises from insufficient isolation mechanisms that should prevent cross-domain session hijacking attacks.
The technical implementation flaw stems from the application's failure to properly validate and secure session identifiers across different domain contexts within shared hosting scenarios. When multiple websites share the same server resources, the session cookie configuration does not adequately distinguish between different domain contexts, allowing an attacker with administrative access to one domain to potentially access session data from another domain hosted on the same server. This misconfiguration creates a path for privilege escalation attacks where unauthorized users can leverage existing administrative sessions to gain unauthorized access to other domain installations.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability exposes organizations to significant security risks including unauthorized administrative access, data breaches, and potential lateral movement within shared hosting environments. The attack vector requires only that an attacker has administrative access to one domain within a shared hosting environment, making it particularly dangerous in multi-tenant hosting scenarios. The vulnerability can result in complete compromise of affected applications and potentially lead to broader network infiltration when multiple domains are hosted on the same infrastructure.
The flaw aligns with CWE-384, which addresses session management vulnerabilities in shared hosting environments, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1548.001 related to abuse of access tokens and session hijacking. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including proper session cookie domain configuration, implementation of secure session handling mechanisms, and enforcement of strict isolation between different domain contexts. Additionally, administrators should consider upgrading to patched versions of baserCMS, implementing network segmentation, and conducting thorough security assessments of shared hosting environments to identify and remediate similar vulnerabilities across all hosted applications.
The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper secure coding practices in web application frameworks, particularly regarding session management and cross-domain security considerations. Organizations must ensure that their web applications properly implement domain-specific session handling and that shared hosting environments enforce appropriate isolation mechanisms to prevent such cross-domain access violations. Regular security audits and vulnerability assessments should include examination of session management configurations and shared hosting security controls to prevent exploitation of similar flaws in other applications.