CVE-2017-15680 in Crafter
Summary
by MITRE • 11/27/2020
In Crafter CMS Crafter Studio 3.0.1 an IDOR vulnerability exists which allows unauthenticated attackers to view and modify administrative data.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/10/2020
The CVE-2017-15680 vulnerability represents a critical access control flaw within Crafter CMS Crafter Studio 3.0.1 that exposes administrative data to unauthenticated attackers. This vulnerability falls under the category of Insecure Direct Object Reference as defined by CWE-639, where the application fails to properly validate user permissions before granting access to sensitive resources. The flaw specifically affects the administrative interface components of the content management system, creating a pathway for malicious actors to bypass authentication mechanisms and gain unauthorized access to privileged information.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and insufficient authorization checks within the application's request handling logic. When users make requests to administrative endpoints, the system does not properly verify whether the requester possesses the necessary privileges to access or modify the targeted resources. This allows an unauthenticated attacker to construct malicious requests that directly reference administrative objects, effectively circumventing the normal authentication flow. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it operates at the application layer, making it difficult to detect through network-based security measures alone.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data exposure, as it enables full administrative control over the CMS environment. Attackers can leverage this weakness to view sensitive configuration files, access user management interfaces, modify content repositories, and potentially escalate their privileges further within the system. The implications for organizations using Crafter CMS 3.0.1 are severe, as the vulnerability undermines the fundamental security model of the application and creates opportunities for data breaches, content tampering, and potential system compromise. This type of vulnerability is often categorized under the ATT&CK technique T1078 for Valid Accounts and T1566 for Phishing, as it allows attackers to gain elevated privileges without proper authentication.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should implement immediate mitigations including patching the application to the latest version where the issue has been resolved, implementing additional authentication layers, and conducting thorough security reviews of all administrative endpoints. Network segmentation and monitoring solutions should be deployed to detect anomalous access patterns, while access controls should be reviewed to ensure proper least privilege principles are enforced. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of proper authorization checking in web applications and serves as a reminder of the potential consequences when applications fail to validate user permissions before processing requests. Security teams should also consider implementing automated vulnerability scanning tools that can detect similar IDOR patterns across their application portfolios to prevent similar incidents in the future.