CVE-2013-7256 in Opsview
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Opsview before 4.4.2 allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of unspecified victims via unknown vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/04/2019
The CVE-2013-7256 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw discovered in Opsview monitoring software prior to version 4.4.2. This vulnerability falls under the CWE-352 category, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery weaknesses in software applications. The vulnerability exists within the authentication mechanisms of Opsview, a widely used network monitoring and management platform that helps organizations track system performance and network health. The flaw allows remote attackers to manipulate authenticated sessions without proper authorization, potentially leading to unauthorized access to sensitive monitoring data and system controls.
The technical nature of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the application's failure to implement adequate anti-forgery token validation mechanisms. In web applications, CSRF attacks exploit the trust that a web application has in a user's browser by tricking the browser into executing unintended actions on behalf of an authenticated user. The vulnerability in Opsview manifests when attackers craft malicious requests that appear to originate from legitimate authenticated users, leveraging the application's session management to perform unauthorized operations. The unspecified victim vectors indicate that the attack could target various user roles within the monitoring platform, potentially compromising administrators, operators, or regular users with different permission levels.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple unauthorized access, as it could enable attackers to manipulate critical monitoring data, alter system configurations, or even execute commands on monitored systems. Given that Opsview is typically deployed in enterprise environments where it manages crucial infrastructure monitoring, such an attack could lead to significant security breaches. The vulnerability's remote exploitation capability means attackers do not need physical access to the network or system, making it particularly dangerous in environments where monitoring systems are exposed to external networks. The potential for privilege escalation exists if the authenticated user has elevated permissions, allowing attackers to gain deeper access to the monitoring infrastructure and potentially compromise the entire network monitoring ecosystem.
Organizations using affected versions of Opsview should immediately implement mitigations including upgrading to version 4.4.2 or later, which contains the necessary patches to address the CSRF vulnerability. The remediation process should involve comprehensive testing of the updated software to ensure that monitoring operations continue uninterrupted while eliminating the security gap. Network segmentation and additional access controls should be implemented as temporary measures until the upgrade is complete. Security teams should also review access logs for any suspicious activity that may indicate exploitation attempts and consider implementing web application firewalls to detect and block malicious requests. According to ATT&CK framework, this vulnerability aligns with T1566, which covers the initial access techniques through social engineering and credential compromise, while also potentially supporting T1078 for legitimate credentials use and T1543 for persistence mechanisms that attackers might establish through compromised monitoring systems.