CVE-2012-5891 in DAlbum
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerabilities in photo/pass.php in DAlbum 1.44 build 174 and earlier allow remote attackers to hijack the authentication of administrators for requests that (1) add a user via an add action, (2) change user passwords via a change action, or (3) delete a user via a delete action.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/31/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2012-5891 represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw in the DAlbum 1.44 build 174 and earlier versions. This vulnerability resides within the photo/pass.php script which serves as the authentication and user management interface for the DAlbum web application. The flaw stems from the application's inadequate validation of HTTP request origins and lack of proper anti-CSRF token implementation in critical administrative functions. Attackers can exploit this vulnerability to perform unauthorized administrative actions without possessing valid credentials, making it particularly dangerous for web applications that handle user management and authentication.
The technical nature of this vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery weaknesses in web applications. The flaw operates by tricking authenticated administrators into executing malicious requests through social engineering or by luring them to malicious websites that contain embedded CSRF attack vectors. The vulnerability affects three distinct administrative operations: adding new users, changing existing user passwords, and deleting user accounts. These actions are particularly sensitive because they directly impact the application's user access control and authentication mechanisms. The absence of proper CSRF protection tokens means that an attacker can craft malicious requests that appear legitimate to the web application because they originate from the same authenticated session.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and multifaceted. An attacker who successfully exploits this CSRF vulnerability can gain unauthorized administrative control over the DAlbum application, potentially leading to complete system compromise. The ability to add new users allows attackers to establish persistent access points within the application, while the capacity to change or delete user accounts can disrupt legitimate user access and potentially cause data loss. This vulnerability essentially provides an attacker with administrative privileges without requiring knowledge of valid passwords or authentication credentials. The attack vector typically involves sending a crafted HTTP request to the vulnerable photo/pass.php script that performs the administrative action, which the authenticated administrator's browser executes automatically due to the existing session cookies.
From an attacker's perspective, this vulnerability maps directly to several techniques described in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the privilege escalation and persistence domains. The ability to add users and modify passwords represents a significant escalation of privileges that can lead to long-term access to the compromised system. The vulnerability also falls under the credential access category since it enables unauthorized access to administrative functions that typically require authentication. Organizations using DAlbum versions prior to 1.44 build 174 are particularly at risk, as this vulnerability has remained unpatched in older releases and represents a known weakness that attackers can readily exploit. The vulnerability's exploitation requires minimal technical skill and can be automated through various attack frameworks, making it a popular target for both skilled and less sophisticated attackers.
The recommended mitigation strategy involves immediate upgrading to DAlbum version 1.44 build 175 or later, which includes proper CSRF token implementation and validation mechanisms. Additionally, administrators should implement proper input validation and output encoding practices, deploy web application firewalls that can detect and block CSRF attacks, and ensure that all administrative functions require proper authentication tokens. Organizations should also consider implementing additional security measures such as multi-factor authentication for administrative accounts and regular security audits of web applications to identify similar vulnerabilities. The implementation of Content Security Policy headers and proper session management practices can further reduce the risk of successful CSRF attacks against the application.