CVE-2018-15334 in WebTop
Summary
by MITRE
A cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the APM webtop 11.2.1 or greater may allow attacker to force an APM webtop session to log out and require re-authentication.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/22/2023
The CVE-2018-15334 vulnerability represents a significant cross-site request forgery flaw within the APM webtop application version 11.2.1 and later. This vulnerability resides in the web application's session management mechanisms and specifically targets the authentication state of user sessions. The flaw allows malicious actors to manipulate the application's behavior through crafted requests that appear legitimate to the web server, exploiting the trust relationship between the browser and the application. The vulnerability manifests when an attacker can force a user's session to terminate and require re-authentication, effectively disrupting normal application usage and potentially enabling further attacks.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the application's failure to properly validate request origins and implement adequate anti-CSRF measures. When a user accesses the APM webtop application, the system should verify that requests originate from legitimate sources within the same origin domain. However, the vulnerability allows attackers to craft malicious requests that, when executed by an authenticated user's browser, trigger unintended session termination. This typically occurs through the manipulation of session tokens or the exploitation of predictable session identifiers that lack proper cryptographic randomness or validation. The flaw operates at the application layer where session management controls should enforce strict origin validation and request authenticity checks.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple session disruption to encompass potential security escalation and user experience degradation. An attacker who successfully exploits this CSRF flaw can force users to log out of their APM webtop sessions, requiring them to re-authenticate and potentially interrupting ongoing business processes. This disruption can be particularly damaging in enterprise environments where continuous access to application functionality is critical. The vulnerability also creates opportunities for session hijacking attempts, as users may be redirected to malicious sites while their sessions are being terminated. Additionally, the forced re-authentication process can provide attackers with information about user authentication patterns and potentially enable credential harvesting attacks. The impact is particularly concerning given that the vulnerability affects versions 11.2.1 and later, suggesting it was present in widely deployed application versions.
Organizations should implement multiple layers of mitigation to address this CSRF vulnerability effectively. The primary defense involves implementing robust anti-CSRF token mechanisms that are generated per session and validated on each request. These tokens should be cryptographically secure and tied to the user's session state. The application should enforce strict origin validation using the same-origin policy and implement proper Content Security Policy headers to prevent unauthorized script execution. Additionally, session management should incorporate timeout mechanisms and secure cookie attributes to prevent session fixation attacks. The mitigation strategy should align with industry standards such as CWE-352, which specifically addresses cross-site request forgery vulnerabilities, and should follow ATT&CK framework techniques related to credential access and session management manipulation. Regular security assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to ensure that CSRF protections remain effective against evolving attack vectors and that proper input validation and output encoding practices are maintained throughout the application stack.