CVE-2015-6973 in Openfire
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerabilities in Ignite Realtime Openfire 3.10.2 allow remote attackers to hijack the authentication of administrators for requests that (1) change a password via a crafted request to user-password.jsp, (2) add users via a crafted request to user-create.jsp, (3) edit server setting or (4) disable SSL on the server via a crafted request to server-props.jsp, or (5) add clients via a crafted request to plugins/clientcontrol/permitted-clients.jsp.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/23/2024
The CVE-2015-6973 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw in Ignite Realtime Openfire version 3.10.2, exposing administrators to unauthorized privilege escalation attacks. This vulnerability stems from the absence of proper anti-CSRF token validation mechanisms within multiple administrative endpoints, creating a significant security gap that allows remote attackers to manipulate administrative functions without authentication. The flaw specifically affects the web-based administration interface of the Openfire server, which is commonly used for managing instant messaging services and configuring server settings.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves the exploitation of predictable or missing CSRF tokens in HTTP requests submitted to administrative servlets. Attackers can craft malicious web pages or emails containing hidden form submissions that automatically execute administrative commands against the vulnerable Openfire server when an authenticated administrator visits the malicious site. The vulnerability affects five distinct administrative endpoints including user-password.jsp for password changes, user-create.jsp for user creation, server-props.jsp for server configuration modifications, and plugins/clientcontrol/permitted-clients.jsp for client management. Each endpoint lacks proper validation of the anti-CSRF tokens, allowing attackers to perform unauthorized administrative actions.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe as it provides attackers with complete administrative control over affected Openfire servers. Successful exploitation can result in unauthorized user account creation, password modifications, server configuration changes, SSL certificate disabling, and client access control modifications. This enables attackers to establish persistent access, escalate privileges, and potentially compromise the entire instant messaging infrastructure. The vulnerability particularly affects organizations relying on Openfire for enterprise communications, where administrative access could lead to data breaches, service disruption, and unauthorized network access. The attack vector requires minimal technical expertise, making it particularly dangerous as it can be exploited by attackers with basic web application knowledge.
Organizations should immediately implement mitigations including applying the latest security patches from Ignite Realtime, enabling proper CSRF token validation, and configuring network-level protections. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery issues, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1078 for valid accounts and T1566 for phishing attacks. Additional defensive measures include implementing web application firewalls, restricting administrative access to trusted networks, and conducting regular security assessments. The affected components represent common web application security weaknesses that require proper input validation and session management practices to prevent unauthorized administrative actions through crafted HTTP requests.
This vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of implementing proper anti-CSRF mechanisms in web applications, particularly in administrative interfaces where privilege escalation risks are highest. The flaw highlights common security misconfigurations in enterprise communication platforms and underscores the need for comprehensive security testing including automated scanning and manual penetration testing. Organizations should also implement security awareness training for administrators to recognize potential phishing attempts that could exploit this vulnerability, as the attack often relies on social engineering to deliver malicious payloads to authenticated users.