CVE-2018-18288 in CrushFTP
Summary
by MITRE
CrushFTP through 8.3.0 is vulnerable to credentials theft via URL redirection.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/17/2024
CrushFTP version 8.3.0 and earlier contains a critical security vulnerability that allows unauthorized credential theft through improper URL redirection handling. This vulnerability exists in the application's authentication and session management mechanisms where the system fails to properly validate or sanitize redirect URLs during the authentication process. The flaw enables attackers to manipulate the redirection flow to capture or steal user credentials, potentially compromising user accounts and system access privileges.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and sanitization within the URL redirection logic. When users attempt to access protected resources or undergo authentication processes, the system constructs redirect URLs that are not properly validated against a whitelist of acceptable destinations. This creates an opportunity for attackers to inject malicious URLs that can capture authentication tokens, session identifiers, or other sensitive credential information during the redirect sequence. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and can be exploited without requiring elevated privileges or specialized tools, making it particularly dangerous in environments where users frequently interact with web-based FTP interfaces.
The operational impact of CVE-2018-18288 extends beyond simple credential theft to potentially enable full system compromise. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability can gain unauthorized access to user accounts, potentially leading to data exfiltration, system manipulation, or lateral movement within the network. The vulnerability affects the integrity and confidentiality of the authentication process, undermining the trust model that CrushFTP relies on for secure file transfer operations. Organizations using affected versions may experience unauthorized access to sensitive files and directories, with potential cascading effects on other systems that depend on the compromised FTP infrastructure.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should prioritize immediate patching of the affected CrushFTP versions to 8.3.1 or later, which contains the necessary security fixes. Organizations should implement additional network-level controls including firewall rules that restrict access to the FTP service and monitor for suspicious redirect patterns. The implementation of proper URL validation mechanisms and strict redirect whitelisting should be enforced at the application level to prevent unauthorized redirection attempts. Security monitoring should include detection of anomalous authentication patterns and redirect sequences that deviate from normal operational behavior. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-601 and CWE-20, representing URL redirection flaws and input validation issues respectively, and maps to ATT&CK techniques involving credential access and privilege escalation through web application vulnerabilities. Organizations should also conduct thorough security assessments of their FTP infrastructure and consider implementing multi-factor authentication to reduce the impact of credential compromise.