CVE-2016-5072 in eShop
Summary
by MITRE
OXID eShop before 2016-06-13 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a GET or POST request to the oxuser class. Fixed versions are Enterprise Edition v5.1.12, Enterprise Edition v5.2.9, Professional Edition v4.8.12, Professional Edition v4.9.9, Community Edition v4.8.12, Community Edition v4.9.9.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/28/2020
The CVE-2016-5072 vulnerability represents a critical remote code execution flaw in the OXID eShop platform that affected multiple editions including Enterprise, Professional, and Community versions prior to specific patch releases. This vulnerability resides within the oxuser class implementation and provides attackers with the ability to execute arbitrary code on affected systems through carefully crafted GET or POST requests. The flaw demonstrates a classic insecure deserialization vulnerability pattern where user input is not properly validated or sanitized before being processed by the application's object handling mechanisms. Attackers could leverage this weakness to gain unauthorized access to the underlying system and potentially escalate privileges to execute malicious commands with the privileges of the web application user.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability involves manipulating the oxuser class parameters through HTTP requests that ultimately lead to code execution on the target server. This type of vulnerability falls under CWE-502 which specifically addresses deserialization of untrusted data, a category that encompasses many remote code execution scenarios in web applications. The vulnerability's impact is particularly severe as it allows attackers to bypass normal authentication mechanisms and directly execute arbitrary commands on the web server. The attack vector requires only a simple HTTP request to the vulnerable endpoint, making it highly accessible to threat actors regardless of their technical expertise level.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risks to e-commerce platforms using OXID eShop as their core commerce solution. Organizations running affected versions face potential data breaches, system compromise, and complete loss of control over their web applications. The vulnerability's presence in multiple editions including Community, Professional, and Enterprise versions means that organizations across different deployment scales and budgets were potentially exposed. The timeframe of the vulnerability's existence before the patch releases indicates that many systems may have remained unpatched for extended periods, creating prolonged exposure windows for attackers to exploit.
Security practitioners should prioritize immediate patching of affected systems to mitigate this vulnerability, with particular attention to the specific version fixes mentioned in the advisory. The recommended mitigation strategy involves upgrading to the patched versions including Enterprise Edition v5.1.12 and v5.2.9, Professional Edition v4.8.12 and v4.9.9, and Community Edition v4.8.12 and v4.9.9. Organizations should also implement network-level restrictions and monitoring to detect suspicious requests targeting the vulnerable oxuser class endpoints. Additionally, the vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1059 which covers command and script injection, demonstrating how this flaw could enable attackers to establish persistent access through shell command execution. Proper input validation, output encoding, and secure deserialization practices should be implemented as part of defensive measures to prevent similar vulnerabilities in future deployments.