CVE-2012-5168 in AContent
Summary
by MITRE
ATutor AContent before 1.2-1 allows remote attackers to modify arbitrary user passwords or category names via a direct request to (1) user/index_inline_editor_submit.php or (2) course_category/index_inline_editor_submit.php.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/15/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2012-5168 affects ATutor AContent versions prior to 1.2-1 and represents a critical authorization flaw that enables remote attackers to manipulate user accounts and content categories without proper authentication. This vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and access control mechanisms within the application's inline editor submission endpoints. The flaw specifically targets two distinct PHP scripts that handle user management and course category modifications, creating multiple attack vectors for unauthorized privilege escalation.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability exploits the absence of proper authentication checks and authorization validation in the inline editor submission handlers. Attackers can directly submit HTTP requests to the vulnerable endpoints user/index_inline_editor_submit.php and course_category/index_inline_editor_submit.php without requiring valid session tokens or proper user credentials. This allows malicious actors to modify user passwords and category names through crafted HTTP POST requests that bypass the application's normal security controls and access validation procedures.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents significant risks to the integrity and confidentiality of the ATutor AContent platform. Remote attackers can compromise user accounts by changing passwords, potentially gaining persistent access to the system and all associated user data. Additionally, the ability to modify course categories enables attackers to manipulate content organization, potentially hiding malicious content or disrupting legitimate educational materials. The vulnerability affects the core functionality of user management and content categorization, undermining the platform's security model and trustworthiness.
The impact of this vulnerability aligns with CWE-285, which addresses improper authorization issues in software applications, and corresponds to ATT&CK technique T1078 for valid accounts and T1484 for legitimate credentials. Organizations using affected versions of ATutor AContent face potential data breaches, unauthorized access to user accounts, and content manipulation that could compromise educational integrity. The vulnerability's remote exploitability means that attackers do not require physical access or network proximity to exploit the flaw, making it particularly dangerous in publicly accessible environments.
Mitigation strategies should prioritize immediate patching to version 1.2-1 or later, which addresses the authorization bypass through proper input validation and authentication checks. System administrators should implement network segmentation to limit access to vulnerable endpoints and monitor for suspicious activity in the application logs. Additional security measures include implementing proper rate limiting on submission endpoints, enforcing strong authentication mechanisms, and conducting regular security assessments to identify similar authorization flaws in other application components. Organizations should also consider implementing web application firewalls to detect and block malicious requests targeting these specific endpoints.