CVE-2018-12583 in AKCMS
Summary
by MITRE
An issue was discovered in AKCMS 6.1. CSRF can delete an article via an admincp deleteitem action to index.php.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/20/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-12583 represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw within AKCMS version 6.1 that exposes the content management system to unauthorized administrative actions. This weakness allows an attacker to manipulate the system's administrative interface through crafted malicious requests that exploit the lack of proper authentication verification mechanisms. The vulnerability specifically targets the admincp deleteitem action endpoint located at index.php, which serves as a critical administrative function for content management operations. The flaw enables attackers to execute destructive operations without proper authorization, potentially compromising the integrity and availability of content stored within the CMS.
This CSRF vulnerability stems from the absence of anti-forgery tokens or other validation mechanisms that should verify the authenticity of administrative requests originating from legitimate administrators. The technical implementation fails to validate that requests to the deleteitem action come from authorized sources within the administrative context. Attackers can craft malicious web pages or exploit existing user sessions to trigger unintended deletions of articles through the admincp interface. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and directly impacts the CMS's access control mechanisms, representing a clear violation of proper authentication and authorization protocols.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data loss, as it compromises the fundamental security posture of the content management system. An attacker with knowledge of the administrative interface structure can execute unauthorized deletions, potentially causing significant disruption to website content, loss of business-critical data, and damage to organizational reputation. The vulnerability affects the availability and integrity of information stored within the CMS, making it particularly dangerous for organizations relying on AKCMS for content management. The attack vector requires minimal technical expertise, making it accessible to threat actors with basic web security knowledge and increasing the overall risk exposure.
Security mitigations for this vulnerability should focus on implementing robust anti-CSRF protection mechanisms throughout the administrative interface. The recommended approach involves incorporating unique, unpredictable tokens for each administrative session that must be validated before processing any destructive operations. Organizations should also implement proper request origin verification and ensure that all administrative actions require explicit authentication confirmation. The fix should align with industry standards such as CWE-352, which specifically addresses cross-site request forgery vulnerabilities, and should incorporate principles from the ATT&CK framework's privilege escalation and defense evasion techniques. Additionally, implementing rate limiting and session management improvements will help prevent automated exploitation attempts and reduce the attack surface for similar vulnerabilities in the system architecture.