CVE-2018-11096 in Horse Market Sell
Summary
by MITRE
Horse Market Sell & Rent Portal Script 1.5.7 has a CSRF vulnerability through which an attacker can change all of the target's account information remotely.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/07/2020
The CVE-2018-11096 vulnerability affects the Horse Market Sell & Rent Portal Script version 1.5.7, representing a critical cross-site request forgery flaw that enables remote attackers to manipulate user account information without authorization. This vulnerability resides within the web application's insufficient validation of user requests, specifically failing to implement proper anti-CSRF mechanisms. The flaw allows malicious actors to craft specially crafted requests that, when executed by authenticated users, can modify account details including credentials, personal information, and access permissions.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the application's lack of anti-CSRF tokens in critical account modification endpoints. When users navigate to the portal and remain authenticated, attackers can leverage social engineering techniques or phishing campaigns to deliver malicious payloads that exploit the absence of request validation. The vulnerability operates through the exploitation of the browser's automatic handling of cookies and session data, where legitimate user sessions are automatically included in requests without proper verification of request origin or authenticity. This flaw directly maps to CWE-352, which defines Cross-Site Request Forgery as a weakness where the application fails to validate that requests originate from the intended source, making it particularly dangerous for web applications handling user authentication and account management.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple information disclosure to encompass complete account compromise and potential privilege escalation within the application ecosystem. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability can modify user credentials, alter account permissions, change personal information, and potentially gain access to sensitive data or functionality within the portal. This represents a significant threat to user trust and application integrity, as compromised accounts can serve as entry points for further attacks against the broader system or other users within the portal's network. The vulnerability's remote exploitability means that attackers do not require physical access to the target system or network, making it particularly dangerous in environments where users interact with the portal from various locations and devices.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2018-11096 should prioritize immediate implementation of anti-CSRF token mechanisms across all account modification endpoints within the Horse Market Sell & Rent Portal Script. Organizations should deploy unique, unpredictable tokens for each user session that are validated on the server side before processing any account modification requests. The implementation should follow established security frameworks such as those outlined in the OWASP Top Ten and NIST guidelines for web application security. Additionally, organizations should implement proper referer header validation, use SameSite cookies, and ensure that all sensitive operations require explicit user confirmation through secondary authentication mechanisms. The application should also implement rate limiting and monitoring for suspicious account modification patterns to detect and prevent potential exploitation attempts. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1531, which describes the use of credentials from password reuse to maintain access, making it particularly important to address promptly to prevent unauthorized account takeovers and subsequent lateral movement within affected networks.