CVE-2015-4349 in Spider Contacts Module
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Spider Contacts module for Drupal allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of administrators for requests that delete contact categories via unspecified vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/06/2019
The CVE-2015-4349 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw within the Spider Contacts module for Drupal content management systems. This vulnerability specifically targets administrative users and creates a dangerous attack surface that enables remote threat actors to execute unauthorized actions against the system. The flaw operates by allowing attackers to craft malicious requests that appear legitimate to the Drupal application, thereby bypassing normal authentication mechanisms and potentially compromising administrative privileges.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the absence of proper anti-CSRF token validation within the contact category deletion functionality of the Spider Contacts module. When administrators perform actions such as deleting contact categories, the application fails to validate that the request originates from an authenticated user session rather than from a malicious third party. This absence of session validation creates a pathway for attackers to construct specially crafted web pages or email attachments that, when visited by an authenticated administrator, automatically submit deletion requests to the vulnerable Drupal instance.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risks to organizations relying on Drupal for their web presence. An attacker who successfully exploits this flaw could delete entire contact categories, potentially disrupting communication channels, removing critical contact information, or even creating opportunities for further attacks by manipulating the contact management system. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it targets administrative functions, meaning that successful exploitation could lead to complete compromise of the contact management module and potentially provide attackers with additional attack vectors against the broader Drupal installation.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery issues in web applications. This classification emphasizes the fundamental flaw in the application's handling of user sessions and request validation. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to techniques involving privilege escalation and persistence within web applications, as attackers could use this flaw to manipulate core functionality and potentially establish more persistent access patterns. The attack vector typically involves social engineering through phishing emails or compromised websites that contain malicious code designed to exploit this specific CSRF weakness.
Organizations should immediately implement mitigations including updating to the latest version of the Spider Contacts module where patches are available, implementing proper anti-CSRF token validation mechanisms, and conducting comprehensive security audits of all Drupal modules. Network segmentation and monitoring for unusual deletion patterns in contact management systems can help detect potential exploitation attempts. Additionally, administrators should review and enforce proper access controls, implement multi-factor authentication for administrative accounts, and establish regular security assessments to identify similar vulnerabilities across the entire Drupal ecosystem.