CVE-2017-13129 in ZKTime Web
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in ZKTeco ZKTime Web 2.0.1.12280 allows remote authenticated users to hijack the authentication of administrators for requests that add administrators by leveraging lack of anti-CSRF tokens.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/19/2019
The CVE-2017-13129 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw discovered in ZKTeco ZKTime Web version 2.0.1.12280, a biometric time and attendance management system widely deployed in enterprise environments. This vulnerability specifically targets the administrative functions of the web interface, creating a significant security risk for organizations relying on this platform for employee time tracking and access control. The flaw resides in the absence of proper anti-cross-site request forgery tokens within the administrative add administrator request endpoints, allowing malicious actors to exploit the system's trust relationship with authenticated users.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the application's failure to validate the origin of administrative requests through proper CSRF token mechanisms. When an authenticated administrator performs administrative actions such as adding new administrator accounts, the web application does not require or validate anti-CSRF tokens that would normally be included in the request headers or form data. This absence creates a predictable attack surface where an attacker can craft malicious web pages or emails containing embedded requests that, when executed by an authenticated administrator, will be processed without proper validation. The vulnerability specifically affects the administrative user management functionality, making it particularly dangerous as it could allow attackers to escalate privileges within the system.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple privilege escalation, as it directly compromises the integrity of the entire time and attendance management system. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability could add themselves as an administrator, gaining complete control over the system's configuration, user management, and access control policies. This could result in unauthorized access to sensitive employee data, manipulation of time records, and potential disruption of business operations. The vulnerability is particularly concerning in enterprise environments where ZKTime Web systems manage critical access control and payroll data, as it could lead to financial losses, compliance violations, and significant reputational damage. The authenticated nature of the attack means that the attacker does not need to compromise credentials directly, but can leverage the existing trust relationship of legitimate administrators.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including the deployment of web application firewalls that can detect and block suspicious administrative requests, enforcement of proper anti-CSRF token implementation across all administrative endpoints, and regular security assessments of web applications. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses cross-site request forgery flaws in web applications, and could be mapped to ATT&CK technique T1078.004 for valid accounts and T1548.003 for abuse of cloud accounts if the system is integrated with cloud services. System administrators should also consider implementing additional authentication controls such as multi-factor authentication for administrative accounts and regular monitoring of administrative activities for suspicious patterns. The remediation process should include updating to patched versions of ZKTime Web, implementing proper input validation for all administrative endpoints, and conducting security awareness training for system administrators to recognize potential social engineering attacks that might exploit this vulnerability.