CVE-2012-2097 in Autosave
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Autosave module 6.x before 6.x-2.10 and 7.x-2.x before 7.x-2.0 for Drupal allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of arbitrary users for requests involving "submitting saved results to a node."
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/07/2021
The CVE-2012-2097 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw within the Drupal Autosave module affecting versions 6.x prior to 6.x-2.10 and 7.x-2.x prior to 7.x-2.0. This vulnerability operates at the application layer and specifically targets the authentication mechanisms of Drupal content management systems. The flaw enables remote attackers to exploit the autosave functionality by crafting malicious requests that can hijack user sessions and perform unauthorized actions on behalf of authenticated users. The vulnerability manifests when users interact with the autosave feature that allows saving draft content and subsequently submitting these saved results to existing nodes within the Drupal system.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the absence of proper authenticity token validation within the Autosave module's request processing. When users save content through the autosave mechanism, the system should verify that the request originates from a legitimate user session and contains appropriate cryptographic tokens to prevent unauthorized operations. However, the vulnerable versions fail to adequately validate these tokens, allowing attackers to construct malicious web pages or email attachments that automatically submit requests to the Drupal site. This flaw falls under the CWE-352 category of Cross-Site Request Forgery, which is classified as a web application security weakness that allows attackers to perform actions on behalf of authenticated users without their knowledge or consent. The vulnerability specifically impacts the module's ability to distinguish between legitimate user-initiated requests and crafted malicious requests that exploit the autosave functionality.
The operational impact of CVE-2012-2097 extends beyond simple data manipulation to potentially compromise entire user sessions and system integrity. Attackers can leverage this vulnerability to submit malicious content, modify existing nodes, or perform administrative actions that would normally require explicit user authorization. The severity increases when considering that the autosave feature typically operates with elevated privileges, potentially allowing attackers to execute actions that could lead to data corruption, content injection, or even privilege escalation within the Drupal environment. This vulnerability directly maps to the ATT&CK technique T1566.002 which involves creating malicious web content to exploit CSRF vulnerabilities. The impact is particularly concerning for content management systems where users frequently save drafts and where the autosave feature is enabled, as it creates a persistent attack surface that can be exploited through various delivery mechanisms including phishing campaigns or compromised websites.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2012-2097 primarily focus on immediate version upgrades to patched releases of the Drupal Autosave module. Organizations should prioritize updating to Drupal 6.x-2.10 or Drupal 7.x-2.0 and later versions where the CSRF protection mechanisms have been properly implemented. The patch addresses the core issue by implementing proper authenticity token validation and ensuring that all autosave requests contain and verify cryptographic tokens that bind the request to the legitimate user session. Additionally, administrators should implement network-level protections such as web application firewalls that can detect and block suspicious patterns in autosave-related requests. Security measures including input validation, session management improvements, and regular security audits of Drupal modules should be enforced. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper authentication verification in web applications and highlights the necessity of implementing robust CSRF protection mechanisms, particularly for features that handle user data modifications and content submissions. Organizations should also consider implementing additional monitoring for unusual autosave activity and establish incident response procedures specifically addressing CSRF vulnerabilities in content management systems.