CVE-2012-4773 in Subrion CMS
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerabilities in Subrion CMS before 2.2.3 allow remote attackers to hijack the authentication of administrators for requests that add, delete, or modify sensitive information, as demonstrated by adding an administrator account via an add action to admin/accounts/add/.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/15/2024
The CVE-2012-4773 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw in Subrion CMS versions prior to 2.2.3, categorizing under CWE-352 according to the Common Weakness Enumeration framework. This vulnerability specifically targets the administrative interface of the content management system, creating a dangerous attack vector that allows remote threat actors to manipulate administrative sessions without authentication. The flaw operates by exploiting the absence of proper anti-CSRF token validation mechanisms in critical administrative endpoints, particularly those involved in account management operations.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the CMS's failure to implement robust session management and request validation controls for administrative functions. When administrators perform actions such as adding, deleting, or modifying accounts through the admin/accounts/add/ endpoint, the system does not verify the authenticity of the request source or validate the presence of anti-CSRF tokens. This omission enables attackers to craft malicious web pages or phishing campaigns that, when visited by authenticated administrators, automatically submit forged requests to the vulnerable CMS instance. The attack requires no prior authentication credentials from the attacker since the malicious requests leverage the existing administrative session.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability creates a severe risk to system security and data integrity within affected Subrion CMS installations. An attacker who successfully exploits this CSRF vulnerability can gain unauthorized administrative privileges, potentially leading to complete system compromise, data exfiltration, or malicious modification of website content. The ability to add new administrator accounts through the forged requests provides attackers with persistent access to the system, while the capability to delete or modify existing accounts can disrupt legitimate administrative operations and cause service degradation. This vulnerability directly aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566.002, which covers phishing with malicious attachments, and T1078.004, which addresses valid accounts, as it enables unauthorized access through legitimate administrative functions.
The mitigation strategies for CVE-2012-4773 primarily involve upgrading to Subrion CMS version 2.2.3 or later, which implements proper anti-CSRF token validation mechanisms. Organizations should also implement additional security measures including input validation, session management improvements, and regular security audits of web applications. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of implementing defense-in-depth strategies and proper session management controls, as outlined in OWASP Top Ten security principles. Security teams should also consider implementing web application firewalls and monitoring for suspicious administrative activities to detect potential exploitation attempts. Regular vulnerability assessments and penetration testing can help identify similar CSRF vulnerabilities in other applications within the organization's infrastructure.