CVE-2018-7634 in Tuleap
Summary
by MITRE
An issue was discovered in Enalean Tuleap 9.17. Lack of CSRF attack mitigation while changing an e-mail address makes it possible to abuse the functionality by attackers. By making a CSRF attack, an attacker could make a victim change his registered e-mail address on the application, leading to account takeover.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/16/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-7634 affects Enalean Tuleap version 9.17 and represents a critical security flaw in the application's cross-site request forgery protection mechanisms. This weakness specifically targets the email address modification functionality within the platform, exposing users to significant account compromise risks. The vulnerability stems from the absence of proper CSRF token validation during email change operations, creating an exploitable gap in the application's security architecture that adversaries can leverage for malicious purposes.
The technical implementation of this flaw allows attackers to craft malicious requests that appear to originate from legitimate users within the application context. When a victim interacts with a specially crafted webpage or link, the application processes the email change request without proper authentication verification or CSRF token validation. This occurs because the email modification endpoint fails to implement the necessary anti-CSRF protections that should validate the request origin and user intent. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous as it operates at the application layer where user session management and authentication controls should be enforced, making it a direct threat to user account integrity and system security.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple email address modification to encompass full account takeover capabilities. An attacker who successfully executes a CSRF attack can redirect a victim's email address to an attacker-controlled email account, effectively severing the victim's legitimate communication channel with their Tuleap account. This manipulation creates a pathway for further exploitation including password reset attacks, access to sensitive project data, and potential lateral movement within the organization's collaborative environment. The attack vector typically involves phishing campaigns or compromised websites that embed malicious requests within legitimate user interactions, leveraging the trust relationship between the user and the application.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2018-7634 should prioritize immediate implementation of proper CSRF token validation mechanisms throughout the application's session management framework. Security teams must ensure that all state-changing operations, particularly those involving user account modifications, require valid CSRF tokens that are generated per session and validated on each request. This approach aligns with established security practices outlined in CWE-352, which specifically addresses cross-site request forgery vulnerabilities, and follows ATT&CK technique T1566 for credential access through phishing methods. Organizations should also implement additional layers of protection including user session monitoring, email verification confirmation mechanisms, and regular security assessments to prevent similar vulnerabilities from emerging in other application components. The remediation process must include thorough code review of all user modification endpoints and implementation of comprehensive input validation to ensure that only authenticated requests with proper security tokens are processed.