CVE-2018-0673 in Garoon
Summary
by MITRE
Directory traversal vulnerability in Cybozu Garoon 3.5.0 to 4.6.3 allows authenticated attackers to read arbitrary files via unspecified vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/13/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-0673 represents a directory traversal flaw within Cybozu Garoon versions 3.5.0 through 4.6.3, constituting a critical security weakness that enables authenticated attackers to access arbitrary files on the affected system. This directory traversal vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation mechanisms within the application's file handling processes, allowing malicious users with legitimate credentials to manipulate file access requests and retrieve sensitive data from unauthorized locations within the server's file system. The flaw specifically manifests when the application fails to properly sanitize user-supplied input that influences file paths, creating an opportunity for attackers to exploit the system's file access controls through crafted requests that traverse directory structures beyond intended boundaries.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability aligns with CWE-22, which defines improper limitation of a pathname to a restricted directory, commonly known as path traversal or directory traversal attacks. Attackers can leverage this weakness by constructing malicious requests that include directory traversal sequences such as "../" or "..\", enabling them to navigate to parent directories and access files that should remain restricted. The authenticated nature of this vulnerability means that attackers must first establish legitimate user credentials, typically through credential compromise or social engineering, before exploiting the directory traversal flaw to escalate their privileges and access sensitive information. This authentication requirement does not mitigate the severity of the vulnerability, as it still provides unauthorized access to system resources that should be protected from legitimate users.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability presents significant risks to organizations utilizing Cybozu Garoon systems, as it can potentially expose confidential business data, user credentials, configuration files, and system documentation that may contain sensitive information. The compromise of such data can lead to further attacks including privilege escalation, data exfiltration, and lateral movement within the network infrastructure. Organizations may face regulatory compliance violations, financial losses, and reputational damage if sensitive information is accessed and potentially leaked due to this vulnerability. The attack surface extends beyond simple file reading capabilities, as attackers may also be able to access application logs, database connection strings, and other system artifacts that could facilitate more sophisticated attacks against the broader infrastructure. Security teams must consider the potential for this vulnerability to be exploited as part of broader attack campaigns, particularly when combined with other reconnaissance activities or initial access vectors.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2018-0673 should prioritize immediate patching of affected Cybozu Garoon systems to the latest available versions that contain fixes for the directory traversal vulnerability. Organizations should implement comprehensive input validation and sanitization measures to prevent malicious path manipulation attempts, including the enforcement of strict file access controls and the implementation of proper path normalization techniques. Network segmentation and access control measures should be strengthened to limit the potential impact of successful exploitation attempts, while regular security audits and vulnerability assessments should be conducted to identify and remediate similar weaknesses within the broader IT infrastructure. Additionally, monitoring systems should be enhanced to detect anomalous file access patterns that may indicate exploitation attempts, and incident response procedures should be updated to address potential breaches involving directory traversal attacks. The implementation of principle of least privilege access controls and regular credential rotation practices can further reduce the risk of unauthorized access to sensitive system resources. Organizations should also consider implementing web application firewalls and other protective measures that can detect and block malicious traversal attempts before they can be processed by the vulnerable application components.