CVE-2013-3513 in GroundWork Monitor
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerabilities in the Noma component in GroundWork Monitor Enterprise 6.7.0 allow remote attackers to hijack the authentication of unspecified victims for requests that (1) store XSS sequences or (2) delete entries.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/14/2024
The CVE-2013-3513 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw within the Noma component of GroundWork Monitor Enterprise version 6.7.0. This vulnerability falls under the Common Weakness Enumeration category CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery vulnerabilities. The flaw enables remote attackers to manipulate authenticated sessions and execute unauthorized actions against unsuspecting users who are logged into the system. The vulnerability is particularly concerning as it affects a core monitoring component that handles critical system operations and user authentication processes.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the absence of proper anti-CSRF tokens or validation mechanisms within the Noma component's request processing. Attackers can craft malicious requests that, when executed by authenticated users, perform unauthorized operations including storing cross-site scripting payloads or deleting system entries. The vulnerability operates by exploiting the trust relationship between the web application and the user's browser, leveraging the fact that the application does not adequately verify the origin or authenticity of incoming requests. This allows attackers to bypass authentication mechanisms and execute operations that should only be available to authorized administrators.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple privilege escalation, as it creates a vector for persistent security breaches within the monitoring infrastructure. When attackers successfully hijack user sessions, they can inject malicious XSS sequences that persist in the system and potentially compromise additional users who view the affected content. Additionally, the ability to delete entries can result in data loss, system instability, and disruption of monitoring operations that are critical for IT infrastructure management. The vulnerability affects the integrity and availability of the GroundWork Monitor Enterprise system, potentially leading to unauthorized access to sensitive operational data and system configuration information.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2013-3513 should focus on implementing robust anti-CSRF protection mechanisms including the use of unique, unpredictable tokens for each user session. Organizations should ensure that all state-changing operations within the Noma component require proper validation of request origins and implement proper session management controls. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of following security best practices as outlined in the OWASP Top Ten and the ATT&CK framework's defense-in-depth principles. Patch management procedures should be prioritized to address this vulnerability, and organizations should conduct thorough security assessments of their monitoring infrastructure to identify similar CSRF vulnerabilities in other components. The remediation process should include comprehensive testing to ensure that CSRF protections are properly implemented without disrupting legitimate system functionality.