CVE-2017-7988 in Joomla
Summary
by MITRE
In Joomla! 1.6.0 through 3.6.5 (fixed in 3.7.0), inadequate filtering of form contents allows overwriting the author of an article.
Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/23/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-7988 represents a critical authorization and data integrity flaw within the Joomla! content management system affecting versions from 1.6.0 through 3.6.5. This issue stems from insufficient input validation and sanitization mechanisms that fail to properly filter form data submitted through the administrative interface. The vulnerability specifically targets the article creation and editing functionality where unauthorized users can manipulate form fields to alter the authorship of content. This flaw operates under the principle of insufficient input validation as classified by CWE-20, where the application does not adequately validate or sanitize user-supplied data before processing it.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability occurs within the Joomla! core components responsible for handling article submissions and modifications. When administrators or privileged users create or edit articles through the web interface, the system should validate that only authorized individuals can modify specific fields including the author identifier. However, the inadequate filtering mechanism allows malicious actors to inject crafted form data that bypasses normal authorization checks. This occurs because the application fails to properly distinguish between legitimate form fields and potentially maliciously modified fields, particularly those related to user identification and permissions. The vulnerability is categorized under CWE-20 as it represents a failure in input validation and sanitization processes.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data manipulation, as it can lead to significant security implications including false attribution of content, potential cover-ups of malicious activities, and undermining of content integrity within the CMS. An attacker who gains access to a low-privilege account or can exploit other vulnerabilities to gain administrative access can use this flaw to rewrite article authorship, making it appear as though malicious activities were performed by legitimate users. This capability directly violates the principle of non-repudiation and can be exploited to conduct social engineering attacks, manipulate content credibility, and potentially hide evidence of security breaches. The vulnerability also aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566 which involves social engineering through content manipulation, and T1078 which covers valid accounts and privilege escalation.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2017-7988 primarily focus on immediate system updates to Joomla! version 3.7.0 or later, which contains the necessary patches to address the insufficient filtering mechanism. Organizations should also implement additional security measures including comprehensive input validation, proper access control enforcement, and regular security auditing of form handling processes. Network segmentation and monitoring solutions should be deployed to detect unusual authorship changes or suspicious administrative activities. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of defense in depth strategies and highlights how seemingly minor input validation flaws can lead to significant security compromises in content management systems. Security teams should conduct regular vulnerability assessments and penetration testing to identify similar filtering weaknesses in other applications and web frameworks that may be susceptible to analogous attacks.