CVE-2016-9125 in Adserver
Summary
by MITRE
Revive Adserver before 3.2.3 suffers from session fixation, by allowing arbitrary session identifiers to be forced and, at the same time, by not invalidating the existing session upon a successful authentication. Under some circumstances, that could have been an opportunity for an attacker to steal an authenticated session.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/22/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-9125 affects Revive Adserver versions prior to 3.2.3 and represents a critical session management flaw that directly impacts application security. This issue stems from improper session handling mechanisms that fail to properly invalidate existing sessions when users authenticate, creating a pathway for session fixation attacks. The vulnerability exists because the system allows arbitrary session identifiers to be forced during the authentication process, effectively enabling attackers to manipulate session tokens and potentially hijack user sessions. This weakness falls under the category of CWE-384, which specifically addresses session fixation vulnerabilities where applications fail to invalidate sessions upon successful authentication, and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1563.002 for credential access through session hijacking.
The technical implementation of this flaw allows an attacker to exploit the lack of session invalidation during authentication processes. When a user successfully logs in, the system should invalidate the previous session identifier and generate a new one, but in vulnerable versions of Revive Adserver, this critical step is omitted. Attackers can leverage this by first establishing a session with a known session identifier, then tricking a user into using that same identifier through various social engineering or network manipulation techniques. The vulnerability becomes particularly dangerous when combined with other attack vectors, as it provides a persistent foothold that can be maintained across different user interactions with the application. This creates opportunities for attackers to maintain access even after legitimate users have logged out or their sessions have expired naturally.
The operational impact of CVE-2016-9125 extends beyond simple session hijacking, as it can enable attackers to gain unauthorized access to administrative functions and sensitive advertising data within the Revive Adserver environment. Since ad servers often contain valuable information about user behavior, campaign performance, and revenue data, successful exploitation could result in significant financial and reputational damage to organizations. The vulnerability also poses risks to other systems that might rely on Revive Adserver for authentication or session management, potentially creating cascading security issues within larger network infrastructures. Organizations using affected versions may experience unauthorized access to advertising campaigns, modification of campaign settings, or even complete system compromise if the ad server is integrated with other critical applications.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2016-9125 primarily involve upgrading to Revive Adserver version 3.2.3 or later, which includes proper session invalidation mechanisms. Security teams should also implement additional protective measures such as enforcing secure session management practices, including automatic session regeneration upon authentication, implementing proper session timeout mechanisms, and ensuring that session identifiers are cryptographically secure. Organizations should conduct thorough security assessments of their ad server configurations and monitor for any suspicious session activity that might indicate exploitation attempts. The fix addresses the core issue by ensuring that when users authenticate successfully, the system properly invalidates the old session and creates a new secure session identifier, effectively closing the session fixation attack vector. This remediation aligns with security best practices outlined in OWASP Top 10 2021 and NIST SP 800-53, specifically addressing the need for secure session management and authentication controls.