CVE-2015-2350 in MikroTik
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in MikroTik RouterOS 5.0 and earlier allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of administrators for requests that change the administrator password via a request in the status page to /cfg.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/28/2024
The CVE-2015-2350 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw in MikroTik RouterOS versions 5.0 and earlier, specifically targeting administrator authentication mechanisms. This vulnerability resides in the web-based management interface of MikroTik routers, where authenticated administrative sessions can be exploited by remote attackers to perform unauthorized actions. The flaw manifests when administrators visit compromised web pages or click on malicious links that trigger automatic requests to the router's configuration interface, particularly targeting the password change functionality through the /cfg endpoint on the status page.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the absence of proper anti-CSRF token validation within the MikroTik RouterOS web interface. When an administrator is logged into the router's management console, their session remains active and authenticated. Attackers can craft malicious web pages or exploit existing vulnerabilities in web browsers to send forged requests to the router's status page, specifically targeting the configuration endpoint that handles password modifications. These forged requests appear legitimate to the router because they contain valid authentication cookies from the administrator's session, bypassing the need for credential guessing or brute force attacks.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and far-reaching for organizations relying on MikroTik routers for network infrastructure management. An attacker who successfully exploits this CSRF vulnerability can completely compromise administrative access to affected routers, potentially leading to complete network takeover. The ability to change administrator passwords means that attackers can lock out legitimate users while establishing their own administrative control, enabling them to modify firewall rules, configure malicious network settings, redirect traffic, or establish backdoor access points. This vulnerability affects the fundamental security posture of networks using vulnerable MikroTik devices, as it operates at the application layer and requires no special privileges beyond basic network access to exploit.
Organizations should immediately implement mitigations including upgrading to MikroTik RouterOS versions 5.1 or later, which contain proper CSRF protection mechanisms. Network segmentation should be implemented to isolate administrative interfaces from public networks, and access controls should be configured to restrict management access to trusted IP addresses only. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing web application firewalls and monitoring for suspicious requests to the /cfg endpoint. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery weaknesses, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1078.004 for valid accounts and T1566 for phishing attacks that could be used to deliver CSRF payloads. Regular security audits and vulnerability assessments should be conducted to identify and remediate similar issues in network infrastructure devices, as this vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of implementing proper session management and request validation in network management interfaces.