CVE-2016-6625 in phpMyAdmin
Summary
by MITRE
An issue was discovered in phpMyAdmin. An attacker can determine whether a user is logged in to phpMyAdmin. The user's session, username, and password are not compromised by this vulnerability. All 4.6.x versions (prior to 4.6.4), 4.4.x versions (prior to 4.4.15.8), and 4.0.x versions (prior to 4.0.10.17) are affected.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/24/2024
This vulnerability in phpMyAdmin represents a significant information disclosure flaw that undermines the security posture of database management interfaces. The issue stems from improper session handling mechanisms that allow attackers to infer authentication status through subtle timing differences or response variations. Attackers can determine whether a specific user account is currently logged into the phpMyAdmin interface without actually compromising the session credentials themselves. This weakness exists in multiple version streams of phpMyAdmin, specifically affecting all 4.6.x releases before 4.6.4, 4.4.x versions prior to 4.4.15.8, and 4.0.x versions before 4.0.10.17, indicating a widespread vulnerability across the software's major release lines. The vulnerability falls under the CWE-200 category of Information Exposure, where sensitive information about system state is inadvertently revealed to unauthorized parties.
The technical implementation of this flaw involves the application's response handling when processing authentication-related requests. When an attacker makes requests to the phpMyAdmin interface, the server's response times or error messages may vary depending on whether a particular user session is active. This timing differential or response variation provides attackers with enough information to deduce whether specific user accounts are currently authenticated. The vulnerability does not directly expose session tokens, usernames, or passwords, but it does provide enough metadata to enable session enumeration attacks. This type of information leakage can be particularly dangerous in environments where attackers are attempting to target specific user accounts or conduct reconnaissance activities.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple information disclosure, as it enables attackers to perform more sophisticated reconnaissance and attack planning. By determining which users are currently logged in, attackers can focus their efforts on targeting active sessions or identify high-value accounts that are likely to be in use. This information can be leveraged in conjunction with other attack vectors such as session hijacking or credential stuffing attacks. The vulnerability also violates fundamental security principles of least privilege and proper access control, as it allows unauthorized parties to gain insights into the authentication state of legitimate users. The impact is particularly concerning in enterprise environments where phpMyAdmin is used to manage critical database infrastructure, as it provides attackers with intelligence about user activity patterns and authentication states.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate patching of affected phpMyAdmin installations to versions 4.6.4, 4.4.15.8, or 4.0.10.17 respectively, which contain the necessary fixes to address the session handling inconsistencies. Organizations should also implement network-level monitoring to detect unusual patterns of requests that might indicate enumeration attempts. Security teams should conduct regular vulnerability assessments to identify other potential information disclosure vulnerabilities in their database management interfaces. The fix implemented in the patched versions likely involves standardizing response handling to ensure that authentication status queries return consistent responses regardless of whether the target user is logged in. This aligns with ATT&CK technique T1083 which covers directory and file system discovery, as attackers can use this information to understand the target environment's authentication state. Additionally, implementing proper input validation and response normalization can help prevent similar issues in future development cycles.