CVE-2019-13458 in Open Ticket Request System
Summary
by MITRE • 01/25/2023
An issue was discovered in Open Ticket Request System (OTRS) 7.0.x through 7.0.8, and Community Edition 5.0.x through 5.0.36 and 6.0.x through 6.0.19. An attacker who is logged into OTRS as an agent user with appropriate permissions can leverage OTRS notification tags in templates in order to disclose hashed user passwords.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/28/2023
The vulnerability CVE-2019-13458 represents a critical information disclosure flaw within the Open Ticket Request System that affects multiple versions of both the professional and community editions. This security weakness specifically targets the notification template functionality within OTRS, creating a pathway for authenticated attackers to access sensitive credential information. The flaw exists in versions 7.0.x through 7.0.8, as well as Community Edition versions 5.0.x through 5.0.36 and 6.0.x through 6.0.19, indicating a widespread impact across the software's release history. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it requires only a legitimate agent user account with appropriate permissions to exploit, making it accessible to individuals who have already gained some level of system access.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through the manipulation of OTRS notification tags within templates, which allows an attacker to extract hashed user passwords from the system. This represents a direct violation of the principle of least privilege and demonstrates a failure in proper input validation and output sanitization. The flaw is classified as a CWE-200 Information Disclosure vulnerability, where sensitive data is exposed through improper handling of template variables. The attack vector leverages the template processing engine to inject malicious payloads that can retrieve password hashes stored within the system's database. This type of vulnerability falls under the ATT&CK technique T1078 Valid Accounts, where adversaries use legitimate credentials to access systems, combined with T1005 Data from Local System to extract sensitive information.
The operational impact of CVE-2019-13458 extends beyond simple credential theft, as hashed passwords can potentially be cracked using modern password recovery techniques, particularly if weak hashing algorithms or insufficient computational complexity are employed. This vulnerability undermines the integrity of the authentication system and creates potential for further privilege escalation attacks. Organizations using affected versions of OTRS face significant risk of unauthorized access to their ticketing systems, which often contain sensitive business information, customer data, and internal communications. The vulnerability's exploitation requires minimal technical skill and only basic authentication credentials, making it particularly dangerous in environments where agent users may have broad access rights. The disclosure of hashed passwords could enable attackers to conduct credential stuffing attacks against other systems where users may have reused passwords, creating cascading security failures across network environments.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2019-13458 should focus on immediate version upgrades to patched releases of OTRS, as well as implementing strict template access controls for agent users. Organizations should review and restrict template modification permissions to only trusted administrators, implementing the principle of least privilege for all user accounts. The vulnerability highlights the importance of secure template processing and input validation within web applications, emphasizing the need for comprehensive security testing of all template and notification systems. Regular security audits should be conducted to identify and remediate similar template injection vulnerabilities, while also implementing monitoring solutions to detect unauthorized template modifications. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing multi-factor authentication for all agent accounts and conducting regular security training to prevent social engineering attacks that might lead to credential compromise. The vulnerability serves as a reminder of the critical importance of secure coding practices and proper access controls in enterprise ticketing systems that handle sensitive organizational data.