CVE-2012-2081 in Organic Groups
Summary
by MITRE
The Organic Groups (OG) module 6.x-2.x before 6.x-2.3 for Drupal does not properly restrict access, which allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive information such as private group titles via a request through the Views module.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/25/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2012-2081 affects the Organic Groups module version 6.x-2.x before 6.x-2.3 in Drupal CMS environments. This security flaw represents a critical access control bypass issue that fundamentally undermines the security model of group-based content management systems. The Organic Groups module is designed to create and manage group structures within Drupal, enabling users to organize content and control access based on group membership. The vulnerability specifically targets the module's failure to properly validate access permissions when processing requests through the Views module, which is a standard Drupal component used for displaying and filtering content.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and access control checks within the Organic Groups module's integration with Views. When remote attackers submit requests that leverage the Views module functionality, the system fails to properly verify whether the requesting user has legitimate access rights to view private group information. This flaw creates a direct pathway for unauthorized information disclosure where attackers can craft specific requests to retrieve private group titles and potentially other sensitive metadata. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and does not require authentication to exploit, making it particularly dangerous as it can be leveraged by any remote attacker with knowledge of the system's structure.
The operational impact of CVE-2012-2081 extends beyond simple information disclosure to potentially enable more sophisticated attacks within compromised Drupal environments. Attackers who successfully exploit this vulnerability can gather intelligence about group structures, membership patterns, and private content organization, which may facilitate further attacks such as privilege escalation or targeted social engineering campaigns. The vulnerability affects Drupal 6.x installations specifically, making it relevant to organizations still maintaining legacy systems or those in the process of migrating from older Drupal versions. Organizations using the affected module version face significant risk of data exposure, particularly in environments where group-based access control is critical for maintaining confidentiality of sensitive information.
Security mitigations for this vulnerability primarily involve immediate patching of the Organic Groups module to version 6.x-2.3 or later, which contains the necessary access control fixes. Organizations should also implement network-level restrictions and monitoring to detect anomalous requests that might indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-284 which addresses improper access control, and it maps to ATT&CK technique T1078 for Valid Accounts and T1566 for Phishing, as the information disclosure could enable attackers to craft more targeted social engineering attacks. System administrators should conduct comprehensive security audits of their Drupal installations to identify all instances of the vulnerable Organic Groups module and ensure proper access control configurations are in place. Additionally, implementing proper network segmentation and web application firewalls can provide additional defense-in-depth measures against exploitation attempts.