CVE-2013-0717 in AtermWR9500N
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerabilities in the web-based management utility on the NEC AtermWR9500N, AtermWR8600N, AtermWR8370N, AtermWR8160N, AtermWM3600R, and AtermWM3450RN routers allow remote attackers to hijack the authentication of administrators for requests that (1) initialize settings or (2) reboot the device.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/01/2022
The CVE-2013-0717 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw affecting multiple NEC router models including the AtermWR9500N, AtermWR8600N, AtermWR8370N, AtermWR8160N, AtermWM3600R, and AtermWM3450RN. This vulnerability resides within the web-based management utility of these networking devices, creating a significant security risk that allows remote attackers to manipulate administrative functions without proper authentication. The flaw specifically targets the authentication mechanisms of these routers, enabling unauthorized users to execute administrative commands through forged requests that appear legitimate to the device's management interface.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the absence of proper anti-CSRF measures within the router's web administration interface. When administrators access the router's management utility, the system should validate that requests originate from legitimate administrative sessions rather than being submitted through maliciously crafted web pages or links. However, the NEC routers fail to implement adequate CSRF protection mechanisms such as synchronizer tokens, origin validation, or referer header checks. This allows attackers to construct malicious web pages that automatically submit requests to the router's management interface, effectively hijacking administrator sessions and executing unauthorized administrative actions.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and multifaceted, as it provides attackers with complete administrative control over affected routers. The vulnerability specifically enables two critical attack vectors: device initialization and system reboot operations. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability could reset the router to factory defaults, potentially losing all configuration data and network settings, or force the device to reboot, causing denial of service for network users. These capabilities allow for both destructive and disruptive attacks, with the potential to compromise entire network infrastructures through simple web-based exploitation techniques. The remote nature of this vulnerability means that attackers do not require physical access to the devices or network proximity to execute successful attacks.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery weaknesses in software applications. This categorization reflects the fundamental flaw in the application's security model where user requests are not properly authenticated to ensure they originate from legitimate administrative sessions. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to techniques involving privilege escalation and defense evasion, as attackers can leverage the administrative access to modify router configurations and potentially establish persistent access points within network environments. The vulnerability also demonstrates poor secure coding practices in web application development, particularly in session management and request validation mechanisms.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should include immediate firmware updates from NEC to address the CSRF implementation flaws in the web management interface. Network administrators should also implement network segmentation and access control measures to limit exposure of administrative interfaces to untrusted networks. Additional protective measures include disabling the web management interface when not actively needed, implementing strong network access controls through firewalls, and regularly monitoring router logs for unauthorized administrative activities. The vulnerability highlights the importance of proper authentication mechanisms and the need for comprehensive security testing of network device management interfaces to prevent similar flaws in future implementations.