CVE-2018-5781 in Connect ONSITE
Summary
by MITRE
A vulnerability in the conferencing component of Mitel Connect ONSITE, versions R1711-PREM and earlier, and Mitel ST 14.2, release GA28 and earlier, could allow an unauthenticated attacker to inject PHP code using specially crafted requests to the vendrecording.php page. Successful exploit could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary PHP code within the context of the application.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/13/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-5781 resides within the conferencing functionality of Mitel Connect ONSITE and Mitel ST platforms, specifically affecting versions through R1711-PREM and ST 14.2 GA28 respectively. This security flaw represents a critical code injection vulnerability that undermines the integrity of the affected systems. The vulnerability manifests through the vendrecording.php page which fails to properly validate or sanitize user input parameters, creating an avenue for malicious actors to inject arbitrary PHP code directly into the application execution environment.
This vulnerability falls under the CWE-94 category of "Improper Control of Generation of Code" and more specifically aligns with CWE-74 "Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component" and CWE-89 "Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command". The attack vector involves sending specially crafted HTTP requests to the vulnerable vendrecording.php endpoint, where input parameters are directly incorporated into PHP execution contexts without adequate sanitization measures. The flaw demonstrates a classic lack of input validation and output encoding that allows attackers to manipulate the application's behavior through malicious payloads.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and far-reaching for organizations utilizing affected Mitel systems. An unauthenticated attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability gains the ability to execute arbitrary PHP code with the privileges of the web application, potentially leading to complete system compromise. This code execution capability enables attackers to perform various malicious activities including data exfiltration, privilege escalation, persistence mechanisms, and lateral movement within the network. The vulnerability affects the core conferencing infrastructure, which often serves as a critical communication platform for enterprise environments, making the potential impact on business operations significant.
From an adversarial perspective, this vulnerability maps to several ATT&CK techniques including T1059.007 "Command and Scripting Interpreter: PHP" for code execution, T1078 "Valid Accounts" for maintaining access, and T1566 "Phishing" for initial compromise. The lack of authentication requirements makes this particularly dangerous as attackers can exploit it without prior credentials. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including patching to the latest versions of affected software, implementing web application firewalls to filter malicious requests, and conducting thorough network segmentation to limit the attack surface. Input validation should be enforced at all application entry points, and the principle of least privilege should be applied to web application accounts to minimize potential damage from successful exploitation attempts.