CVE-2014-2341 in CubeCart
Summary
by MITRE
Session fixation vulnerability in CubeCart before 5.2.9 allows remote attackers to hijack web sessions via the PHPSESSID parameter.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/11/2026
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-2341 represents a critical session fixation weakness in CubeCart e-commerce platforms prior to version 5.2.9. This flaw resides in the application's session management mechanism and specifically affects how the PHPSESSID parameter is handled during web authentication processes. The vulnerability creates a pathway for remote attackers to exploit the session handling logic and gain unauthorized access to user sessions, effectively allowing them to hijack active user sessions and impersonate legitimate users within the application environment.
This session fixation vulnerability stems from the application's failure to properly regenerate session identifiers upon successful authentication. When users log into the CubeCart system, the application does not adequately invalidate or replace the existing session ID, leaving the original PHPSESSID parameter susceptible to reuse by attackers. The flaw operates at the application layer and leverages the fundamental weakness in session management where session tokens are not properly rotated after authentication events, creating a persistent attack vector that remains valid throughout the session lifecycle.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple unauthorized access to encompass potential data breaches, financial fraud, and complete system compromise. Attackers can leverage this vulnerability to gain administrative privileges, modify customer data, access sensitive financial information, and manipulate the e-commerce transactions. The remote nature of the attack means that threat actors do not require physical access to the system or network, making the vulnerability particularly dangerous for online retail environments where customer data and payment information are processed. The vulnerability directly maps to CWE-384, which specifically addresses session fixation issues in web applications, and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1548.003 related to hijacking sessions through session management weaknesses.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate implementation of proper session management practices within the CubeCart application. Organizations must ensure that session identifiers are regenerated upon successful authentication events, effectively breaking the association between the attacker-controlled session token and the legitimate user session. The recommended solution involves updating to CubeCart version 5.2.9 or later, which contains the necessary patches to address the session fixation issue. Additionally, security measures should include implementing proper session handling mechanisms such as secure cookie attributes, session timeout configurations, and regular session validation checks. Network-level protections such as web application firewalls and intrusion detection systems can provide additional layers of defense, while security monitoring should track unauthorized session activity and authentication attempts to detect potential exploitation attempts.