CVE-2017-10681 in Piwigo
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Piwigo through 2.9.1 allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of users for requests to unlock albums via a crafted request.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/09/2022
The cross-site request forgery vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-10681 affects Piwigo versions through 2.9.1, representing a critical security flaw that undermines the application's authentication mechanisms. This vulnerability resides in the web application's handling of requests to unlock albums, where the system fails to properly validate the origin of requests, creating an avenue for malicious actors to exploit user sessions. The flaw specifically targets the authentication flow during album unlocking operations, allowing attackers to craft malicious requests that appear legitimate to the server.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the absence of proper anti-CSRF token validation within the album unlocking functionality. When users attempt to unlock albums within the Piwigo application, the system should verify that the request originates from the authenticated user's legitimate session rather than from external malicious sources. Without this validation mechanism, attackers can construct specially crafted requests that leverage the victim's existing authenticated session to perform unauthorized actions. This weakness directly maps to CWE-352, which defines cross-site request forgery as a vulnerability where the application fails to validate that requests originate from the authenticated user.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple unauthorized access, as it enables attackers to manipulate album access controls without requiring explicit authentication credentials. An attacker could craft a malicious webpage or email attachment that, when visited by an authenticated user, automatically sends requests to unlock protected albums. This could result in unauthorized access to sensitive content, potential data exposure, and compromise of user privacy within the Piwigo gallery system. The vulnerability affects all users who maintain authenticated sessions within the application, making it particularly dangerous in environments where multiple users share the same system.
From an attack perspective, this vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566, which covers social engineering attacks that manipulate users into executing malicious actions. The exploitation process typically involves luring victims to visit malicious websites or click on compromised links that contain embedded requests to the vulnerable Piwigo instance. The attack requires minimal technical sophistication from the attacker while potentially causing significant damage to user data and application integrity. Organizations using Piwigo versions prior to 2.9.2 should immediately implement mitigations to prevent unauthorized access to their digital media collections. The recommended remediation includes implementing proper CSRF token validation mechanisms, ensuring that all state-changing operations require verification of the request's authenticity, and updating to the patched version of the application that addresses this specific vulnerability.