CVE-2018-25435 in ZeusCart
Summary
by MITRE • 06/02/2026
ZeusCart 4.0 contains a cross-site request forgery vulnerability that allows attackers to perform unauthorized actions on behalf of victims by crafting malicious requests. Attackers can deactivate customer accounts via the admin interface by tricking users into visiting attacker-controlled pages that submit requests to the regstatus endpoint with action=deny parameters.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/02/2026
This cross-site request forgery vulnerability in ZeusCart 4.0 represents a critical security flaw that undermines the integrity of the application's administrative functions. The vulnerability stems from the application's failure to implement proper anti-CSRF mechanisms when processing administrative requests, specifically those targeting customer account management. When administrators or users with administrative privileges visit malicious web pages, the attacker can leverage the browser's automatic credential handling to submit requests to the regstatus endpoint without the user's knowledge or consent. This weakness allows unauthorized account deactivation through crafted requests that include action=deny parameters, effectively compromising the application's user management capabilities.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability demonstrates a classic CSRF attack pattern where the application accepts requests without validating the origin or presence of anti-CSRF tokens. The regstatus endpoint serves as the attack vector, processing administrative commands that should only be executable by authorized administrators through legitimate interfaces. The vulnerability exists because the application does not verify that requests originate from legitimate administrative interfaces or validate the presence of CSRF tokens that would prevent unauthorized request submission. This flaw is particularly dangerous as it allows attackers to manipulate customer account states without requiring authentication credentials, effectively enabling account takeover and user management disruption.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple account deactivation to potentially compromise the entire customer management system. Attackers can exploit this weakness to disable customer accounts, potentially causing service disruption and customer dissatisfaction while simultaneously gaining unauthorized access to customer data through the administrative interface. The vulnerability affects the application's integrity and availability, as unauthorized users can manipulate customer account status and potentially use this access to escalate privileges or conduct further attacks. The impact is particularly severe in e-commerce environments where customer account management is critical to business operations and user trust.
Mitigation strategies for this CSRF vulnerability should focus on implementing robust anti-CSRF mechanisms throughout the application's administrative interfaces. The solution requires the implementation of anti-CSRF tokens that are generated per session and validated on each administrative request, ensuring that requests originate from legitimate administrative interfaces. The application should enforce strict origin validation and implement proper session management to prevent unauthorized access to administrative functions. Security controls should include the use of unique tokens for each request, proper validation of request origins, and implementation of the SameSite cookie attributes to prevent cross-site request forgery. Additionally, the application should implement comprehensive logging of administrative activities to detect and respond to unauthorized access attempts. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery weaknesses, and represents a significant concern for organizations relying on web applications for customer management and administrative functions. The remediation approach should follow established security frameworks and best practices for preventing CSRF attacks as outlined in various security standards and guidelines.