CVE-2017-14683 in geminabox
Summary
by MITRE
geminabox (aka Gem in a Box) before 0.13.7 has CSRF, as demonstrated by an unintended gem upload.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/19/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-14683 affects geminabox, commonly known as Gem in a Box, a simple ruby gem hosting solution that allows users to host and serve their own ruby gems. This particular version range is susceptible to Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks, which represent a significant security weakness in web applications. The flaw specifically manifests during gem upload operations, where an attacker can manipulate the application to accept unauthorized gem uploads without proper authentication or authorization checks.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the application's failure to properly validate request origins and implement anti-CSRF tokens for critical operations such as gem uploads. When users interact with the geminabox interface, the system should verify that requests originate from legitimate sources and contain appropriate security tokens to prevent malicious actors from crafting forged requests that appear to come from authenticated users. Without these protections, an attacker can construct malicious web pages or exploit existing vulnerabilities in web browsers to trick authenticated users into uploading gems without their knowledge or consent.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is substantial as it allows unauthorized individuals to inject arbitrary ruby gems into the gem repository, potentially leading to code execution vulnerabilities, dependency confusion attacks, or the introduction of malicious code that could affect all users of the gem repository. This risk extends beyond simple repository contamination as attackers could upload gems that contain backdoors, trojans, or other malicious payloads that would be executed when legitimate users attempt to install or use these gems in their applications. The implications are particularly severe in development environments where teams rely on internal gem repositories for their dependencies.
Organizations using geminabox versions prior to 0.13.7 should immediately implement mitigations including upgrading to the patched version that properly addresses CSRF vulnerabilities. The fix typically involves implementing proper CSRF token validation mechanisms and ensuring that all state-changing operations require verification of legitimate request sources. From a cybersecurity perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery flaws in web applications. Additionally, the threat model for this vulnerability fits within the ATT&CK framework under the T1190 technique for Exploit Public-Facing Application, and T1059 for Command and Scripting Interpreter as attackers could leverage the uploaded gems to execute malicious code on target systems. The remediation process should also include reviewing access controls and implementing proper input validation for all gem upload operations to prevent similar vulnerabilities in other parts of the application.