CVE-2017-17990 in Biometric Shift Employee Management System
Summary
by MITRE
Biometric Shift Employee Management System has CSRF via index.php in an edit_holiday action.
Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/30/2017
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-17990 affects the Biometric Shift Employee Management System, a web-based application designed for workforce management and attendance tracking. This system processes employee data through various web interfaces and administrative functions. The specific flaw resides in the index.php file's edit_holiday action, which fails to implement proper cross-site request forgery protection mechanisms. This weakness allows authenticated users to be tricked into executing unintended administrative actions without their knowledge or consent, potentially compromising the integrity of the employee management system.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the absence of anti-forgery tokens or similar validation mechanisms within the web application's request processing flow. When a user navigates to the edit_holiday functionality, the application accepts requests without verifying their origin or authenticity. This design flaw aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery vulnerabilities in web applications. The vulnerability operates by exploiting the trust relationship between the web application and its users, where legitimate administrative actions can be initiated through maliciously crafted requests that appear to originate from authenticated sessions.
The operational impact of this CSRF vulnerability extends beyond simple data manipulation, potentially allowing attackers to alter holiday schedules, modify employee records, or disrupt workforce management operations. An attacker could craft a malicious webpage containing embedded requests that automatically execute when an authenticated user visits the page, leading to unauthorized changes in the employee management system. This could result in significant operational disruptions, including incorrect payroll processing, unauthorized time off approvals, or compromised attendance tracking. The vulnerability affects the system's integrity and availability, as unauthorized modifications to holiday configurations could cascade into broader workforce management issues.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should focus on implementing proper CSRF protection mechanisms throughout the application's web interface. The most effective approach involves incorporating anti-forgery tokens into all state-changing requests, ensuring that each request contains a unique, unpredictable value that can be validated server-side. Additionally, implementing the SameSite cookie attributes and utilizing Origin header validation can provide additional layers of protection against cross-site request forgery attacks. Organizations should also conduct regular security assessments of their web applications to identify and remediate similar vulnerabilities, following established security frameworks such as those outlined in the OWASP Top Ten project and the NIST Cybersecurity Framework. The implementation of proper input validation and output encoding practices, as recommended in the ATT&CK framework for web application security, would further strengthen the system's resistance to such attacks.