CVE-2014-9344 in Snowfox Content Management System
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Snowfox CMS before 1.0.10 allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of administrators for requests that add a new admin account via a submit action in the admin/accounts/create uri to snowfox/.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/29/2025
The CVE-2014-9344 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw in Snowfox CMS versions prior to 1.0.10 that specifically targets administrative functions. This vulnerability enables remote attackers to manipulate authenticated administrator sessions by exploiting the lack of proper anti-CSRF protection mechanisms within the CMS's administrative account creation endpoint. The flaw exists at the administrative accounts creation URI path /snowfox/admin/accounts/create where the application fails to validate the authenticity of requests originating from legitimate administrative users.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the absence of anti-CSRF tokens or similar protective measures in the administrative account creation form. When an administrator visits the vulnerable endpoint to create a new administrative account, the application processes the request without verifying that the request originated from a legitimate administrative session. Attackers can craft malicious web pages or exploit existing vulnerabilities in other parts of the application to trick administrators into submitting requests that create new administrator accounts without their knowledge or consent.
This vulnerability directly maps to CWE-352, which defines Cross-Site Request Forgery as a weakness where an attacker can induce users to perform actions they did not intend to perform. The operational impact of this flaw is severe as it allows attackers to escalate privileges within the CMS environment by creating new administrative accounts with full access rights. Once an attacker successfully hijacks an administrator's session through this CSRF attack, they gain complete control over the CMS, potentially leading to data breaches, unauthorized content modifications, and complete system compromise.
The attack vector specifically targets the administrative account creation functionality, making it particularly dangerous as it allows attackers to establish persistent access to the system. This vulnerability can be exploited in conjunction with other techniques to gain unauthorized access to sensitive administrative functions, including user management, content modification, and system configuration changes. The impact extends beyond simple account creation as it provides attackers with a foothold that can be leveraged for further attacks within the CMS environment.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability involve implementing proper anti-CSRF protection mechanisms including the use of unique tokens that are validated on each request to the administrative account creation endpoint. Organizations should ensure that all administrative functions require proper authentication verification and that anti-CSRF tokens are generated and validated for each request. The recommended solution includes updating to Snowfox CMS version 1.0.10 or later where the CSRF protection has been properly implemented. Security measures should also include monitoring for suspicious administrative account creation activities and implementing additional access controls to limit the scope of administrative privileges.
The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of implementing comprehensive security controls in web applications, particularly for administrative functions that have significant impact on system security. Organizations should follow established security frameworks such as those defined in the OWASP Top Ten and implement proper session management, authentication verification, and input validation controls. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this type of vulnerability under privilege escalation techniques, specifically targeting the 'Exploitation for Privilege Escalation' tactic where attackers leverage application flaws to gain higher levels of access within systems.