CVE-2014-8429 in xEpan CMS
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Xavoc Technocrats xEpan CMS 1.0.4.1, 1.0.4, 1.0.1, and earlier allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of administrators for requests that create new administrative accounts via a crafted request to the owner/users page.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/03/2024
The CVE-2014-8429 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw within the xEpan CMS platform, specifically affecting versions 1.0.4.1, 1.0.4, 1.0.1, and earlier releases. This vulnerability resides in the authentication and account management mechanisms of the content management system, creating a significant security risk for organizations relying on this platform for their web presence. The flaw allows remote attackers to exploit the system's lack of proper CSRF protection measures, enabling them to manipulate administrative functions without proper authorization.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the absence of anti-CSRF tokens or other protective mechanisms in the administrative account creation endpoints. When administrators access the owner/users page to create new administrative accounts, the system fails to validate the authenticity of the request source. Attackers can craft malicious requests that, when executed in the context of an authenticated administrator's browser, will create unauthorized administrative accounts without the administrator's knowledge or consent. This vulnerability directly maps to CWE-352, which defines Cross-Site Request Forgery as a weakness where the application does not adequately validate that requests originate from legitimate sources.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple account creation, as it fundamentally undermines the security model of the CMS platform. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability can establish persistent administrative access to the system, potentially leading to complete compromise of the web application and underlying infrastructure. This represents a severe privilege escalation vector that can result in data breaches, unauthorized modifications, and complete system takeover. The vulnerability particularly affects organizations that rely on xEpan CMS for critical business operations, as it provides attackers with a pathway to establish backdoor access that could persist across system restarts or updates.
Organizations should immediately implement mitigation strategies focusing on the immediate deployment of CSRF protection mechanisms, including the implementation of unique anti-CSRF tokens for each administrative session. The recommended approach involves modifying the administrative account creation endpoints to require validation of CSRF tokens, ensuring that all requests originate from legitimate sources within the application. Additionally, implementing proper session management controls and access controls on administrative functions will significantly reduce the risk of exploitation. Organizations should also consider applying the vendor's official security patches if available, while maintaining comprehensive monitoring of administrative account creation activities to detect potential unauthorized access attempts. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1078 which describes valid accounts as a means of gaining access, and T1548.001 which covers abuse of cloud services for privilege escalation, both of which can be facilitated through this type of CSRF attack. The security posture of affected organizations should be strengthened through regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning to identify similar weaknesses in other application components that may be susceptible to similar exploitation techniques.