CVE-2018-6458 in Easy Hosting Control Panel
Summary
by MITRE
Easy Hosting Control Panel (EHCP) v0.37.12.b allows remote attackers to conduct cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attacks by leveraging lack of CSRF protection.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/13/2023
The Easy Hosting Control Panel EHCP version 0.37.12.b presents a critical security vulnerability classified as cross-site request forgery (CSRF) due to insufficient protection mechanisms. This vulnerability exists within the web application's authentication and authorization framework, where the system fails to implement proper CSRF token validation for state-changing operations. The absence of CSRF protection allows malicious actors to exploit the application's trust relationship with legitimate users, potentially enabling unauthorized actions to be executed on behalf of authenticated users without their knowledge or consent. This flaw represents a fundamental breakdown in the application's security architecture and demonstrates a clear violation of secure coding practices.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the application's failure to validate request origins and implement anti-CSRF tokens for critical operations within the control panel interface. When users authenticate to the EHCP system, they maintain a session that permits various administrative functions such as user management, configuration changes, and resource modifications. However, the system does not enforce CSRF protection mechanisms that would verify the authenticity of requests originating from the legitimate application interface rather than from malicious third-party sites. This weakness allows attackers to craft malicious web pages or emails containing embedded requests that, when executed by an authenticated user, perform unintended actions within the EHCP environment.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data exposure to encompass potential system compromise and unauthorized administrative access. An attacker could leverage this CSRF flaw to execute privileged operations such as creating new user accounts, modifying existing user permissions, changing system configurations, or even deleting critical resources. The consequences could include complete system takeover, data breaches, service disruption, and unauthorized access to sensitive hosting environments. This vulnerability particularly affects organizations relying on EHCP for hosting management, as it provides attackers with a straightforward path to escalate privileges and gain persistent access to their hosting infrastructure. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery weaknesses in web applications.
Mitigation strategies for this CSRF vulnerability must address both immediate protection measures and long-term architectural improvements. Organizations should implement comprehensive CSRF token validation for all state-changing requests within the EHCP system, ensuring that each request contains a unique, unpredictable token that is verified against the user's session. Additionally, the application should enforce strict origin validation and implement proper request verification mechanisms that prevent requests from external domains from being processed as legitimate actions. Security patches and updates should be applied immediately to address this vulnerability, while organizations should also consider implementing additional security controls such as Content Security Policy headers, SameSite cookie attributes, and web application firewalls to provide defense-in-depth protection. The remediation efforts should align with ATT&CK technique T1548.002, which focuses on exploiting application vulnerabilities to gain privileges, and should be part of a broader security posture improvement initiative.