CVE-2018-21235 in E-Mail Advertising System
Summary
by MITRE
An issue was discovered in Foxit E-mail advertising system before September 2018. It allows authentication bypass and information disclosure, related to Interspire Email Marketer.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/22/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-21235 represents a critical security flaw within the Foxit E-mail advertising system that affected versions prior to September 2018. This issue stems from the integration with Interspire Email Marketer, a widely used email marketing platform that serves numerous organizations for automated email campaigns and customer communication. The vulnerability creates a significant risk for organizations relying on these systems for their email marketing operations, as it exposes fundamental authentication mechanisms to exploitation.
The technical flaw manifests as an authentication bypass vulnerability that allows unauthenticated attackers to gain access to administrative functions within the email marketing system. This occurs due to insufficient validation of user credentials and improper session management within the integrated platform. The vulnerability specifically affects the authentication mechanisms that should verify user identities before granting access to sensitive administrative features. Attackers can exploit this weakness to bypass standard login procedures and directly access system functionalities that should be restricted to authorized personnel only.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple unauthorized access, as it enables comprehensive information disclosure across the affected system. Once authenticated, malicious actors can extract sensitive data including user credentials, campaign configurations, email lists, and potentially personal information of customers or recipients. This exposure creates significant risks for organizations handling large volumes of customer data through their email marketing platforms. The vulnerability essentially provides attackers with a backdoor into the core administrative functions of the email marketing system, allowing them to manipulate campaigns, access confidential information, and potentially conduct further attacks within the organization's network infrastructure.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including updating to the patched versions of both the Foxit E-mail advertising system and the Interspire Email Marketer components. System administrators must verify that all authentication mechanisms are properly configured and that access controls are enforced at multiple levels within the application. Network segmentation and monitoring solutions should be deployed to detect unusual access patterns and unauthorized attempts to exploit the vulnerability. Security teams should conduct thorough audits of all email marketing systems and review access logs for evidence of exploitation attempts. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-287, which addresses improper authentication issues, and represents a significant concern for organizations operating under the ATT&CK framework's initial access and credential access phases, where adversaries seek to establish persistent access through compromised authentication mechanisms.
The security implications of this vulnerability highlight the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date email marketing platforms and conducting regular security assessments of integrated systems. Organizations should establish robust patch management processes to ensure timely deployment of security updates and maintain visibility into their email marketing infrastructure through comprehensive monitoring solutions. Regular penetration testing and vulnerability scanning should be implemented to identify similar weaknesses in other integrated systems that may present comparable risks to organizational security posture.