CVE-2014-7808 in Wicket
Summary
by MITRE
Apache Wicket before 1.5.13, 6.x before 6.19.0, and 7.x before 7.0.0-M5 make it easier for attackers to defeat a cryptographic protection mechanism and predict encrypted URLs by leveraging use of CryptoMapper as the default encryption provider.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/16/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-7808 affects Apache Wicket versions prior to 1.5.13, 6.19.0, and 7.0.0-M5, representing a critical weakness in the framework's cryptographic protection mechanisms. This issue specifically targets the CryptoMapper component which serves as the default encryption provider for URL encryption within the Apache Wicket web application framework. The flaw enables attackers to predict encrypted URLs through exploitation of insufficient cryptographic randomness and predictable encryption patterns, undermining the security assurances that should be provided by the framework's built-in encryption capabilities.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the weak cryptographic practices employed by the CryptoMapper component in older Apache Wicket versions. When the framework generates encrypted URLs, it relies on a deterministic encryption process that does not adequately randomize the encryption keys or initialization vectors used in the cryptographic operations. This predictable behavior allows attackers to analyze the structure of encrypted URLs and potentially reconstruct the original URL parameters, effectively bypassing the intended security protections. The vulnerability manifests when the framework uses a fixed or predictable seed for cryptographic operations, making it susceptible to pattern recognition and mathematical prediction techniques.
The operational impact of CVE-2014-7808 extends beyond simple information disclosure to encompass potential privilege escalation and session hijacking scenarios. Attackers who can predict encrypted URLs gain the ability to forge valid session tokens, access unauthorized resources, and potentially impersonate legitimate users within applications built on the affected Apache Wicket versions. This vulnerability particularly affects web applications that rely heavily on encrypted URL parameters for user authentication, session management, and access control, as it undermines the fundamental security assumptions that these applications depend upon for protecting sensitive data and user privacy.
Organizations utilizing affected Apache Wicket versions should implement immediate remediation measures through version upgrades to the patched releases, specifically targeting Apache Wicket 1.5.13, 6.19.0, and 7.0.0-M5 or later. The mitigation strategy should also include comprehensive security assessments of applications that may be leveraging the vulnerable CryptoMapper component, with particular attention to identifying and replacing any custom implementations that might exhibit similar cryptographic weaknesses. Additionally, security teams should conduct thorough penetration testing to verify that no other components within their applications might be vulnerable to related cryptographic attacks, as this vulnerability represents a broader class of weaknesses categorized under CWE-327, which addresses the use of weak cryptographic algorithms and improper implementation of cryptographic functions. The attack surface is further expanded when considering that this vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1552.001, which focuses on unsecured credentials, as the predictable encryption patterns essentially provide attackers with a method to extract and reconstruct sensitive information that should remain protected through proper cryptographic means.