CVE-2014-2987 in EGroupware
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerabilities in EGroupware Enterprise Line (EPL) before 1.1.20140505, EGroupware Community Edition before 1.8.007.20140506, and EGroupware before 14.1 beta allow remote attackers to hijack the authentication of administrators for requests that (1) create an administrator user via an admin.uiaccounts.add_user action to index.php or (2) modify settings via the newsettings parameter in an admin.uiconfig.index action to index.php. NOTE: vector 2 can be used to execute arbitrary PHP code by leveraging CVE-2014-2988.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/25/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-2987 represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw affecting EGroupware Enterprise Line and Community Edition platforms across multiple versions. This vulnerability resides in the authentication and authorization mechanisms of the web application, specifically within the administrative interfaces that handle user account management and system configuration modifications. The flaw enables remote attackers to exploit the trust relationship between authenticated users and the application server, allowing unauthorized actions to be performed under the guise of legitimate administrators.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability occurs through carefully crafted requests that manipulate the application's administrative endpoints. Attackers can leverage the vulnerability to execute two primary malicious actions: creating new administrator accounts through the admin.uiaccounts.add_user action or modifying system settings via the newsettings parameter in the admin.uiconfig.index action. These endpoints are particularly dangerous because they operate within the administrative context of the application, providing attackers with elevated privileges and access to sensitive system functions. The vulnerability is particularly concerning as it affects both enterprise and community editions of EGroupware, indicating a widespread impact across the platform's user base.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple privilege escalation, as it creates a pathway for complete system compromise. When combined with CVE-2014-2988, which allows for arbitrary PHP code execution, the CSRF vulnerability becomes a potent attack vector for full system takeover. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability can establish persistent backdoors, modify system configurations, access sensitive data, and potentially escalate privileges to gain root access to the underlying server. The implications are severe for organizations relying on EGroupware for business-critical applications, as the vulnerability can be exploited without requiring authentication credentials from the target user.
Security professionals should recognize this vulnerability as a classic example of CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery flaws in web applications. The attack pattern aligns with techniques documented in the ATT&CK framework under the privilege escalation and persistence domains, specifically targeting the use of administrative interfaces to gain unauthorized access. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including the deployment of anti-CSRF tokens for all administrative actions, proper validation of request origins, and implementation of Content Security Policy headers. Additionally, the vulnerability highlights the importance of regular security updates and patch management, as the affected versions were specifically mentioned in the CVE description, indicating that the issue was resolved in subsequent releases. The attack vector demonstrates the critical need for web application firewalls and input validation mechanisms to prevent unauthorized administrative actions from being executed through manipulated requests.