CVE-2013-3392 in WebEx Social
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerabilities in Cisco WebEx Social allow remote attackers to hijack the authentication of arbitrary users via unspecified vectors, aka Bug IDs CSCuh10405 and CSCuh10355.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/29/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2013-3392 represents a critical cross-site request forgery issue affecting Cisco WebEx Social platforms. This security flaw resides within the web application's authentication mechanisms and allows malicious actors to exploit user sessions without proper authorization. The vulnerability manifests through unspecified attack vectors that enable remote threat actors to manipulate authenticated user sessions, effectively hijacking their privileges and access rights. The presence of multiple CSRF vulnerabilities within a single platform indicates a systemic weakness in the application's security architecture that requires comprehensive remediation.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the absence of proper validation mechanisms for cross-origin requests within the WebEx Social application. Attackers can construct malicious web pages or send crafted requests that, when executed by authenticated users, perform unintended actions within the application context. The vulnerability specifically affects the authentication handling processes, allowing unauthorized modifications to user sessions and potentially complete account takeover scenarios. This flaw operates at the application layer where session tokens and authentication state are managed, making it particularly dangerous as it can be exploited without requiring user credentials or direct access to the system.
The operational impact of CVE-2013-3392 extends beyond simple data theft or unauthorized access. Remote attackers can leverage this vulnerability to perform administrative actions, modify user permissions, access sensitive information, or even gain persistent access to compromised accounts. The vulnerability affects the fundamental security model of the WebEx Social platform, potentially allowing attackers to escalate privileges and maintain unauthorized access over extended periods. Organizations relying on Cisco WebEx Social for collaboration and communication may experience significant security breaches, including data exfiltration, unauthorized modifications to shared content, and potential lateral movement within network environments where the platform is integrated.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate implementation of proper CSRF protection mechanisms including the deployment of anti-CSRF tokens for all state-changing operations within the application. Organizations should ensure that all user sessions are properly validated and that requests originate from legitimate sources through proper referer header checking and origin validation. The implementation of the Content Security Policy header can provide additional protection against cross-site scripting attacks that may compound the CSRF vulnerability. Security patches should be applied immediately from Cisco's official sources, and organizations should conduct thorough security assessments to identify any potential exploitation attempts. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery, and represents a critical threat under the ATT&CK framework's privilege escalation and credential access tactics, emphasizing the need for layered security approaches to prevent unauthorized session manipulation.