CVE-2018-25096 in Own Health Record
Summary
by MITRE • 12/30/2023
A vulnerability was found in MdAlAmin-aol Own Health Record 0.1-alpha/0.2-alpha/0.3-alpha/0.3.1-alpha. It has been rated as problematic. This issue affects some unknown processing of the file includes/logout.php. The manipulation leads to cross-site request forgery. The attack may be initiated remotely. Upgrading to version 0.4-alpha is able to address this issue. The patch is named 58b413aa40820b49070782c786c526850ab7748f. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component. The associated identifier of this vulnerability is VDB-249191.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/20/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-25096 represents a cross-site request forgery flaw within the MdAlAmin-aol Own Health Record application across multiple alpha versions. This security weakness resides in the includes/logout.php file processing logic, where improper validation of user requests allows malicious actors to exploit the system through crafted web requests. The vulnerability has been classified with a problematic rating due to its potential for unauthorized actions being performed on behalf of authenticated users without their knowledge or consent.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the application's failure to properly validate the origin of requests made to the logout functionality. When users navigate to the logout page, the system does not adequately verify that the request originates from the legitimate application interface rather than from external malicious domains. This lack of proper origin validation creates an attack surface where adversaries can construct malicious web pages or send specially crafted requests that, when executed by authenticated users, perform unauthorized logout operations or potentially other malicious actions within the application's context. The vulnerability operates at the web application level and specifically targets session management mechanisms.
From an operational perspective, this CSRF vulnerability poses significant risks to user sessions and data integrity within the health record system. An attacker could potentially force authenticated users to log out of their accounts, disrupting service availability and potentially causing users to lose access to their health information. The remote exploitability of this vulnerability means that attackers do not need physical access to the system or local network presence to carry out attacks. The vulnerability affects all versions from 0.1-alpha through 0.3.1-alpha, indicating a persistent flaw in the application's security architecture that required a major version upgrade to resolve properly.
The recommended remediation approach involves upgrading to version 0.4-alpha, which includes a specific patch identified by the commit hash 58b413aa40820b49070782c786c526850ab7748f. This upgrade addresses the core session validation issue by implementing proper request origin verification mechanisms and CSRF token validation. Organizations should prioritize this upgrade as part of their vulnerability management processes, particularly given that the affected system handles sensitive health information. The patch implementation aligns with established security best practices for CSRF protection and follows industry standards that would map to CWE-352 for Cross-Site Request Forgery and potentially CWE-116 for improper input handling in web applications.
Security practitioners should also consider implementing additional protective measures such as Content Security Policy headers, proper session management controls, and regular security assessments to prevent similar vulnerabilities from emerging in other parts of the application. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of comprehensive security testing during development cycles, particularly focusing on session management and user authentication flows. Organizations utilizing this health record system should conduct thorough risk assessments to determine if any other components may be susceptible to similar CSRF attacks and implement appropriate defensive measures accordingly.