CVE-2018-10030 in CMS Made Simple
Summary
by MITRE
CMS Made Simple (aka CMSMS) 2.2.7 has CSRF in admin/siteprefs.php.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/24/2020
CMS Made Simple version 2.2.7 contains a cross-site request forgery vulnerability in the admin/siteprefs.php endpoint that allows authenticated administrators to be tricked into executing unintended actions. This vulnerability falls under CWE-352, which specifically addresses cross-site request forgery flaws in web applications. The flaw exists because the application fails to implement proper anti-CSRF tokens or validation mechanisms when processing administrative requests. An attacker can craft malicious web pages or emails that, when visited by an authenticated administrator, automatically submit requests to modify site preferences without the user's knowledge or consent. This represents a significant security risk as it can lead to unauthorized changes in critical system configurations, potentially compromising the entire website infrastructure.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the absence of anti-CSRF protection in the site preferences management interface. When administrators access the admin/siteprefs.php page, the application does not validate that requests originate from legitimate sources within the same session. This allows attackers to create deceptive HTML forms or JavaScript code that can submit administrative commands to the vulnerable endpoint. The attack requires the victim to be authenticated to the CMSMS application with administrative privileges, but no additional authentication factors are required for the exploit to succeed. This makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous as it leverages the trust relationship between the user and the application.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple configuration changes. An attacker could potentially modify critical site parameters such as database connection strings, administrator credentials, or security settings that could lead to complete system compromise. The vulnerability enables privilege escalation attacks where an attacker might gain unauthorized access to sensitive administrative functions. Additionally, this flaw could be combined with other vulnerabilities to create more sophisticated attack vectors, potentially allowing for persistent backdoors or data exfiltration. Organizations using CMS Made Simple 2.2.7 are at risk of unauthorized modifications that could affect website availability, data integrity, and overall security posture.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability include implementing proper anti-CSRF token validation mechanisms in the application code, ensuring that all administrative endpoints require valid session tokens before processing requests. Organizations should immediately upgrade to a patched version of CMS Made Simple that addresses this vulnerability, as the official release includes proper CSRF protection measures. Network administrators should also implement additional monitoring to detect unusual administrative activity patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. Security teams should review all administrative interfaces for similar CSRF vulnerabilities and ensure that all forms and endpoints requiring privileged operations implement robust validation mechanisms. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this vulnerability under privilege escalation techniques, specifically targeting the 'Web Application' and 'Command and Control' tactics where attackers can manipulate administrative functions to gain further access to compromised systems.