CVE-2017-15576 in Redmine
Summary
by MITRE
Redmine before 3.2.6 and 3.3.x before 3.3.3 mishandles Time Entry rendering in activity views, which allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive information.
If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/04/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-15576 represents a critical information disclosure issue within the Redmine project management platform affecting versions prior to 3.2.6 and 3.3.x before 3.3.3. This flaw manifests in the improper handling of Time Entry rendering within activity views, creating a pathway for remote attackers to access sensitive data that should remain restricted to authorized users. The vulnerability falls under the category of information exposure through improper output handling, which aligns with CWE-200, where insufficient output sanitization leads to unauthorized data access. Redmine's activity views are designed to display project-related information including time entries, issue updates, and user activities, making them a prime target for attackers seeking to extract confidential project data.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs when attackers manipulate the time entry rendering process within activity views, allowing them to bypass normal access controls and retrieve time tracking data that may contain sensitive project information. This includes details about project timelines, resource allocation, employee work hours, and potentially confidential business data. The flaw exists due to inadequate input validation and output sanitization mechanisms within the activity view rendering logic, which fails to properly enforce user permissions when displaying time entry information. Attackers can leverage this weakness by crafting specific requests that exploit the improper rendering behavior, potentially gaining access to time entries associated with projects they should not have visibility into.
The operational impact of CVE-2017-15576 extends beyond simple information disclosure, as time tracking data often contains sensitive business intelligence including project budgets, resource utilization patterns, and employee productivity metrics. This vulnerability can be particularly damaging in enterprise environments where Redmine serves as a central project management tool, potentially exposing competitive information, financial data, and strategic planning details. The remote nature of the attack means that threat actors can exploit this vulnerability from anywhere on the internet without requiring physical access to the system or network. This characteristic makes the vulnerability especially dangerous as it can be exploited by attackers in automated scanning campaigns, potentially affecting multiple Redmine installations simultaneously.
Organizations utilizing Redmine should prioritize immediate remediation through the application of patches released by the Redmine development team, specifically upgrading to versions 3.2.6 or 3.3.3 and later. The mitigation strategy should include comprehensive security testing of the updated environment to ensure that the vulnerability has been fully addressed and that no regressions have been introduced. Additionally, organizations should implement network segmentation controls to limit access to Redmine installations and consider implementing web application firewalls to detect and prevent exploitation attempts. From a defense-in-depth perspective, organizations should also review their access control policies and ensure that time tracking data is properly segmented according to project confidentiality levels. This vulnerability demonstrates the importance of maintaining current security patches and highlights the need for regular security assessments of web applications to identify and remediate similar output handling vulnerabilities that may exist in other components of the system. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this vulnerability under T1005 - Data from Local System, as it involves unauthorized access to data stored within the application's local database through improper output rendering mechanisms.