CVE-2015-4630 in koha
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerabilities in Koha 3.14.x before 3.14.16, 3.16.x before 3.16.12, 3.18.x before 3.18.08, and 3.20.x before 3.20.1 allow remote attackers to (1) hijack the authentication of administrators for requests that create a user via a request to members/memberentry.pl or (2) give a user superlibrarian permission via a request to members/member-flags.pl or (3) hijack the authentication of arbitrary users for requests that conduct cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks via the addshelf parameter to opac-shelves.pl.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/26/2025
The vulnerability CVE-2015-4630 represents a critical cross-site request forgery issue affecting the Koha integrated library system across multiple version branches. This vulnerability resides in the authentication and authorization mechanisms of the library management platform, specifically targeting administrative functions and user privilege escalation capabilities. The flaw allows remote attackers to exploit the system's lack of proper CSRF protection measures, enabling unauthorized actions that could compromise the entire library management infrastructure. The affected versions span across Koha 3.14.x through 3.20.x, indicating a widespread impact across the software's release lifecycle.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient validation of request origins and missing anti-CSRF tokens within critical administrative endpoints. Attackers can leverage this weakness to perform three distinct malicious actions without user consent or knowledge. The first attack vector targets the members/memberentry.pl endpoint, enabling unauthorized administrators to create new user accounts, potentially establishing persistent access points within the system. The second vector exploits the members/member-flags.pl endpoint, allowing attackers to grant superlibrarian privileges to regular users, thereby elevating their access rights and compromising system security. The third vector operates through the opac-shelves.pl endpoint using the addshelf parameter, which enables attackers to hijack arbitrary user sessions for conducting cross-site scripting attacks.
The operational impact of CVE-2015-4630 extends beyond simple privilege escalation, creating a comprehensive attack surface that could lead to complete system compromise. Successful exploitation allows attackers to manipulate user accounts, gain elevated privileges, and potentially execute malicious code through XSS attacks, making this vulnerability particularly dangerous for library systems that handle sensitive patron information. The vulnerability's persistence across multiple version branches indicates a fundamental flaw in the CSRF protection implementation that required patching across the entire software release cycle. Organizations using affected Koha versions face significant risks including unauthorized access to library databases, data manipulation, and potential information disclosure.
Security mitigation strategies for CVE-2015-4630 should prioritize immediate deployment of patches released by Koha developers, specifically targeting versions 3.14.16, 3.16.12, 3.18.08, and 3.20.1. The implementation of proper anti-CSRF token validation mechanisms within all administrative endpoints represents the primary defense measure, aligning with CWE-352 standards for cross-site request forgery prevention. Organizations should also implement network-based monitoring to detect suspicious patterns in administrative requests and establish robust access control policies to limit the impact of potential privilege escalation. Additionally, security teams should conduct comprehensive vulnerability assessments of their library management systems to identify similar CSRF vulnerabilities in other applications and ensure adherence to OWASP Top Ten security principles, particularly focusing on authentication and session management controls. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date security patches and implementing defense-in-depth strategies to protect institutional data repositories from sophisticated attack vectors that exploit fundamental web application security flaws.