CVE-2016-9127 in Adserver
Summary
by MITRE
Revive Adserver before 3.2.3 suffers from Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF). The password recovery form in Revive Adserver is vulnerable to CSRF attacks. This vulnerability could be exploited to send a large number of password recovery emails to the registered users, especially in conjunction with a bug that caused recovery emails to be sent to all the users at once. Both issues have been fixed.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/22/2022
The CVE-2016-9127 vulnerability affects Revive Adserver versions prior to 3.2.3 and represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw that undermines the application's user authentication security mechanisms. This vulnerability specifically targets the password recovery functionality, which serves as a crucial component in maintaining user account integrity and preventing unauthorized access to advertising campaigns and analytics data. The flaw allows attackers to manipulate the password recovery process through forged requests that appear legitimate to the web application, potentially compromising user accounts and exposing sensitive advertising information. The vulnerability's exploitation capability is particularly concerning given that it could be leveraged to generate massive volumes of password recovery emails, creating both security and operational impact.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the absence of proper request validation mechanisms within the password recovery form processing. In web applications, CSRF protection typically requires the implementation of anti-forgery tokens that validate the authenticity of user-initiated requests. The Revive Adserver implementation failed to incorporate such protective measures, making it susceptible to attacks where malicious actors could craft malicious web pages or emails that automatically submit password recovery requests to the vulnerable system. This flaw directly aligns with CWE-352, which categorizes Cross-Site Request Forgery vulnerabilities as those that permit unauthorized commands from a user who is authenticated to a web application. The vulnerability's exploitation could result in a denial of service scenario for legitimate users attempting to recover their passwords, while simultaneously creating potential for spamming and abuse of the email infrastructure.
The operational impact of CVE-2016-9127 extends beyond simple authentication bypass capabilities and creates significant security and service disruption concerns for organizations relying on Revive Adserver for their digital advertising operations. When combined with another undisclosed bug that caused recovery emails to be sent to all users simultaneously, the vulnerability becomes even more dangerous as it could enable attackers to flood users with password recovery notifications, potentially overwhelming email systems and creating a denial of service condition for legitimate users. This scenario represents a classic example of how multiple vulnerabilities can compound to create more severe security implications, often referred to as the principle of vulnerability chaining in cybersecurity risk management. The attack vector typically involves social engineering tactics where users might be tricked into clicking malicious links that automatically submit password recovery requests, leading to unauthorized account compromise and potential data breaches.
Organizations using vulnerable versions of Revive Adserver should prioritize immediate remediation through the application update to version 3.2.3 or later, which implements proper CSRF protection mechanisms. The fix typically involves implementing anti-forgery tokens that are generated server-side and validated upon form submission, ensuring that requests originate from legitimate user interactions rather than automated or malicious sources. Security teams should also consider implementing additional monitoring for unusual password recovery activity patterns and establishing rate limiting mechanisms to prevent abuse of the recovery functionality. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to techniques related to credential access and privilege escalation, specifically targeting the credential recovery process as a means to gain unauthorized system access. The mitigation strategy should also include user education regarding the dangers of clicking suspicious links and the importance of verifying website authenticity before submitting sensitive information, aligning with defensive practices outlined in the MITRE ATT&CK framework for preventing credential theft and account takeover scenarios.