CVE-2014-6253 in Zenoss
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerabilities in Zenoss Core through 5 Beta 3 allow remote attackers to hijack the authentication of arbitrary users, aka ZEN-12653.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/10/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-6253 represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw affecting Zenoss Core versions through 5 Beta 3. This security weakness resides within the web application's authentication mechanism and allows remote attackers to exploit the system's trust in legitimate user sessions. The vulnerability specifically impacts the Zenoss Core platform, which is widely used for monitoring and managing IT infrastructure, making it a significant concern for organizations relying on this system for critical operations. The issue stems from the application's failure to properly validate and verify the authenticity of requests originating from authenticated sessions, creating a pathway for malicious actors to perform unauthorized actions on behalf of legitimate users.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability demonstrates a fundamental flaw in the application's request validation process. Attackers can craft malicious web pages or emails containing specially crafted requests that, when executed by an authenticated user, will be processed by the Zenoss Core application as legitimate commands. This occurs because the system does not implement proper anti-CSRF tokens or other validation mechanisms to ensure that requests originate from the intended source. The vulnerability allows for session hijacking and unauthorized access to user accounts, potentially enabling attackers to perform administrative functions, modify configurations, or access sensitive monitoring data. The flaw affects the core authentication flow within the application, making it particularly dangerous as it undermines the fundamental security model of the platform.
The operational impact of CVE-2014-6253 extends beyond simple unauthorized access, as it creates a persistent threat vector that can be exploited across multiple user sessions within the Zenoss Core environment. Organizations using this monitoring platform face potential exposure to data breaches, system compromise, and unauthorized configuration changes that could severely impact their IT infrastructure monitoring capabilities. The vulnerability's remote exploitation nature means that attackers do not require physical access or network proximity to the system, making it particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where monitoring systems are often exposed to external networks. This flaw directly impacts the availability, integrity, and confidentiality of the monitoring data and system functions that Zenoss Core provides, potentially leading to extended periods of undetected system compromise.
Security mitigations for this vulnerability should focus on implementing robust anti-CSRF token mechanisms within the Zenoss Core application, ensuring that all state-changing requests require validation tokens that are unique to each user session. Organizations should also consider implementing additional security layers including proper session management, request origin validation, and regular security audits of web application components. The implementation of the OWASP CSRF Prevention Cheat Sheet recommendations would be particularly beneficial, including the use of synchronizer tokens, origin validation, and proper session handling. According to CWE standards, this vulnerability maps to CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery issues, and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566 related to Phishing for Information. Organizations should also ensure that their Zenoss Core installations are updated to patched versions that address this specific CSRF vulnerability, as the original affected versions through 5 Beta 3 remain susceptible to exploitation. Regular security assessments and penetration testing of monitoring platforms should be conducted to identify similar vulnerabilities that could compromise the integrity of critical infrastructure monitoring systems.