CVE-2018-0567 in Office
Summary
by MITRE
Cybozu Office 10.0.0 to 10.8.0 allows authenticated attackers to bypass access restriction to access and write non-public data via unspecified vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/21/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-0567 affects Cybozu Office versions 10.0.0 through 10.8.0, representing a critical access control flaw that undermines the security posture of this enterprise collaboration platform. This issue specifically targets the authorization mechanisms within the software, allowing authenticated users to escalate their privileges and gain unauthorized access to sensitive non-public data. The vulnerability exists in the application's permission handling system, where proper access restrictions fail to properly validate user privileges before granting data access or modification capabilities. Organizations utilizing Cybozu Office for document management, collaboration, and business process automation face significant risks when this vulnerability remains unaddressed, as it directly compromises the confidentiality and integrity of corporate information assets.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and privilege enforcement within the application's security framework. Attackers who have legitimate authentication credentials can exploit unspecified vectors to bypass intended access controls that should prevent them from viewing or modifying data that falls outside their designated permissions. This type of flaw typically manifests when the system fails to properly verify user roles, groups, or individual access levels before processing data requests. The vulnerability operates at the application layer, where the software's internal logic for determining access rights contains a critical oversight that allows privilege escalation. From a cybersecurity perspective, this represents a failure in the principle of least privilege, where users should only have access to resources necessary for their specific roles. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-285, which addresses improper authorization issues in software systems, and demonstrates how inadequate access control implementation can lead to serious data exposure risks.
The operational impact of CVE-2018-0567 extends beyond simple data access violations, potentially enabling attackers to modify critical business documents, alter collaboration workflows, or extract sensitive corporate information that could be used for competitive advantage or malicious purposes. Organizations relying on Cybozu Office for managing confidential contracts, financial records, strategic plans, or employee data face substantial risk of data breaches and regulatory compliance violations. The vulnerability's authenticated nature means that attackers need only obtain legitimate user credentials through phishing, credential theft, or other means to exploit the flaw, making it particularly dangerous in environments where user access is not strictly controlled. This vulnerability can facilitate data exfiltration campaigns, insider threat scenarios, or provide a foothold for further lateral movement within the network. The risk is compounded by the fact that the affected versions span a significant release range, indicating that the flaw may have persisted across multiple updates and patches, leaving organizations vulnerable for extended periods without proper remediation.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigation strategies including applying the latest security patches released by Cybozu, conducting comprehensive access control audits, and implementing additional monitoring for unauthorized data access attempts. Network segmentation and enhanced user authentication mechanisms, including multi-factor authentication, should be deployed to reduce the impact of credential compromise. Security teams should also review and strengthen their incident response procedures to detect and respond to potential exploitation attempts. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to techniques involving privilege escalation and credential access, potentially enabling adversaries to move laterally within networks and persist undetected. Organizations should also consider implementing data loss prevention measures and continuous monitoring solutions to detect anomalous access patterns that might indicate exploitation of this vulnerability. The remediation process should include thorough testing of patches in controlled environments before deployment to ensure compatibility with existing business processes and workflows.