CVE-2014-9331 in Desktop Central
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in ZOHO ManageEngine Desktop Central before 9 build 90130 allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of administrators for requests that add an administrator account via an addUser action to STATE_ID/1417736606982/roleMgmt.do.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/08/2024
The CVE-2014-9331 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw in ZOHO ManageEngine Desktop Central versions prior to build 90130. This vulnerability specifically targets the administrative authentication mechanism of the desktop management platform, creating a significant security risk for organizations relying on this system for endpoint management. The flaw exists within the role management functionality of the application, where an attacker can exploit the missing CSRF protection to execute unauthorized administrative actions on behalf of authenticated users. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it allows remote attackers to hijack administrator sessions and perform privileged operations without proper authentication.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the absence of proper anti-CSRF token validation in the addUser action endpoint within the role management module. When an administrator accesses the STATE_ID/1417736606982/roleMgmt.do URL, the application fails to verify that the request originates from a legitimate source within the authenticated session. This allows attackers to craft malicious web pages or exploit existing vulnerabilities to trick administrators into executing unauthorized actions that add new administrator accounts to the system. The attack vector leverages the trust relationship between the web application and the authenticated administrator session, bypassing normal authentication mechanisms that should prevent unauthorized account creation.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends far beyond simple privilege escalation, as it fundamentally compromises the integrity of the administrative access controls within ManageEngine Desktop Central. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability can create new administrator accounts with full privileges, effectively gaining complete control over the managed endpoints and potentially the entire network infrastructure. This risk is amplified by the fact that the vulnerability affects the core administrative functionality, meaning that even if other security controls are in place, the attacker can circumvent them by simply adding a new administrative account. Organizations using this software may experience unauthorized access to sensitive system configurations, data exfiltration, and potential lateral movement within their network environments.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery weaknesses in software applications. This classification indicates that the flaw represents a well-documented and commonly exploited security vulnerability pattern where applications fail to validate the origin of requests that modify state or perform privileged operations. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to techniques involving privilege escalation and credential access, specifically targeting the T1078 adversary technique for valid accounts and T1566 for credential harvesting. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying the vendor patch for build 90130, implementing proper CSRF token validation mechanisms, and conducting comprehensive security reviews of all administrative endpoints to ensure similar vulnerabilities are not present in other parts of the application.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should include immediate patch deployment as the primary defense mechanism, followed by network-level controls to monitor and restrict access to administrative endpoints. Organizations should also implement additional security layers such as multi-factor authentication for administrative accounts, regular security assessments of web applications, and monitoring for suspicious administrative activities. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of implementing proper anti-CSRF measures in all web applications, particularly those handling administrative functions, as the consequences of failing to do so can result in complete system compromise. Security teams should also consider implementing web application firewalls to detect and block suspicious requests attempting to exploit this and similar CSRF vulnerabilities.