CVE-2014-9506 in MantisBT
Summary
by MITRE
MantisBT before 1.2.18 does not properly check permissions when sending an email that indicates when a monitored issue is related to another issue, which allows remote authenticated users to obtain sensitive information about restricted issues.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/21/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-9506 affects MantisBT versions prior to 1.2.18, representing a critical permission bypass flaw that undermines the software's access control mechanisms. This issue specifically targets the email notification system within MantisBT, which is designed to inform users about monitored issues and their relationships to other issues. The flaw occurs when the system generates email notifications indicating that a monitored issue is related to another issue, creating a scenario where authenticated users can exploit insufficient permission checks to access information about restricted issues that they should not be able to view.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate validation of user permissions during the email notification generation process. When MantisBT sends emails about issue relationships, the system fails to verify whether the authenticated user has proper access rights to view the related issues before including that information in the notification. This oversight creates a pathway for attackers to leverage their authenticated status to gather sensitive data about issues they should not be authorized to see, effectively bypassing the intended access controls that protect confidential project information. The vulnerability operates at the application logic level, where the permission checking mechanism is not properly enforced during email processing operations.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple information disclosure, as it can enable attackers to gain insights into project structures, issue relationships, and potentially sensitive business or technical information that should remain restricted to authorized personnel only. Attackers can exploit this weakness by simply monitoring issues they have access to and then observing the email notifications they receive, which may inadvertently reveal information about related issues that are restricted to specific user groups or roles. This information leakage can be particularly damaging in environments where MantisBT is used for managing sensitive projects, security vulnerabilities, or proprietary development work where access control is paramount.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-284, which describes improper access control, and demonstrates how insufficient permission checking can lead to unauthorized information disclosure. From an adversarial perspective, this flaw fits within the ATT&CK technique T1005 for data from local system and T1041 for exfiltration, as attackers can use the email notification system as a vector for information gathering. Organizations using affected versions of MantisBT should prioritize immediate patching to address this vulnerability, as the flaw requires minimal effort to exploit and can provide attackers with valuable intelligence about project configurations and issue relationships. The recommended mitigation involves upgrading to MantisBT version 1.2.18 or later, which implements proper permission checking during email notification generation. Additionally, administrators should review and audit existing access control policies to ensure that email notification settings do not inadvertently expose sensitive information, while also considering implementing additional monitoring to detect unusual email activity patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts.