CVE-2015-5395 in SOGo
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in SOGo before 3.1.0.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/29/2022
The CVE-2015-5395 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw discovered in the SOGo groupware application prior to version 3.1.0. This vulnerability resides within the web-based administrative interface of SOGo, which is widely deployed for email and calendar services in enterprise environments. The flaw allows authenticated users to perform unauthorized actions on behalf of other users through malicious web pages or crafted requests. The vulnerability specifically affects the administrative functions that manage user accounts, permissions, and system configurations, making it particularly dangerous for organizations relying on SOGo for their communication infrastructure. The issue stems from the absence of proper CSRF protection mechanisms in the application's web interface, particularly in the administrative sections that handle sensitive operations.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability exploits the fundamental weakness in the application's session management and request validation processes. When an authenticated administrator performs administrative actions within SOGo, the application does not adequately verify the authenticity of the request source or validate the presence of anti-CSRF tokens. This allows attackers to craft malicious web pages that, when visited by an authenticated user, automatically submit requests to the SOGo administrative interface. The flaw operates at the application layer, specifically targeting the web interface components responsible for administrative tasks such as user creation, modification of group permissions, and system configuration changes. The vulnerability can be exploited through various attack vectors including phishing campaigns, compromised web pages, or social engineering techniques that trick administrators into visiting malicious sites while maintaining their authenticated session.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple privilege escalation, as it enables attackers to compromise entire SOGo deployments and potentially gain access to sensitive organizational data. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability can modify user accounts, create new administrative users, change system configurations, and potentially access email communications and calendar data belonging to other users. The attack requires only that a victim administrator visit a malicious page while authenticated to the SOGo application, making it particularly insidious in enterprise environments where administrators frequently access web applications from shared or public computers. The vulnerability affects organizations using SOGo versions prior to 3.1.0, which were widely deployed in corporate networks, educational institutions, and government agencies, potentially exposing thousands of systems to this attack vector.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including upgrading to SOGo version 3.1.0 or later, which includes proper CSRF token implementation and validation mechanisms. The fix addresses the vulnerability by implementing anti-CSRF tokens in all administrative requests and ensuring proper request origin verification. Security teams should also consider implementing additional protective measures such as network segmentation, monitoring for unusual administrative activities, and user education regarding suspicious web content. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1078 for valid accounts and T1566 for phishing campaigns. Organizations should conduct thorough security assessments of their SOGo deployments to identify any potential exploitation attempts and implement proper logging and monitoring of administrative activities to detect unauthorized access patterns. The remediation process should include comprehensive testing to ensure that the CSRF protection mechanisms function correctly without disrupting legitimate administrative operations.