CVE-2019-15073 in Mail2000
Summary
by MITRE
An Open Redirect vulnerability for all browsers in MAIL2000 through version 6.0 and 7.0, which will redirect to a malicious site without authentication. This vulnerability affects many mail system of governments, organizations, companies and universities.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/20/2019
The CVE-2019-15073 vulnerability represents a critical open redirect flaw in the MAIL2000 email system affecting versions 6.0 and 7.0 across government agencies, organizations, companies, and educational institutions. This vulnerability resides in the application's handling of URL redirection mechanisms, where the system fails to properly validate or sanitize user-supplied redirect parameters. The flaw allows attackers to craft malicious links that appear legitimate but ultimately redirect users to attacker-controlled domains without requiring any authentication credentials. This opens the door to various social engineering attacks including phishing campaigns, credential harvesting, and malware distribution. The vulnerability's impact extends beyond individual users to entire organizational infrastructures, as MAIL2000 serves as a core communication platform for sensitive government and enterprise operations. The open redirect occurs at the application layer where user input is directly incorporated into redirect URLs without proper validation, creating a pathway for attackers to exploit trust relationships between users and the mail system. This vulnerability directly aligns with CWE-601 open redirect vulnerability classification, which specifically addresses situations where applications redirect users to external domains without adequate security checks. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this as a technique under T1566, credential harvesting through social engineering, where the open redirect serves as an initial access vector for more sophisticated attacks. The vulnerability affects the authentication and authorization mechanisms by bypassing the normal security checks that should occur before redirecting users to external resources. Organizations utilizing MAIL2000 versions 6.0 and 7.0 face significant risk as attackers can exploit this flaw to redirect users to malicious sites that mimic legitimate organizational portals, potentially capturing credentials or installing malware. The vulnerability's widespread impact is particularly concerning given MAIL2000's deployment across critical infrastructure sectors including government agencies, financial institutions, and academic organizations. Security researchers have identified that the flaw exists in the application's URL validation logic where redirect parameters are processed without proper sanitization, allowing attackers to inject malicious URLs that bypass normal security controls. The lack of authentication requirements for the redirect operation means that any user interacting with malicious links could be compromised, regardless of their access level within the organization. This vulnerability demonstrates a fundamental flaw in input validation and output encoding practices within the MAIL2000 application architecture, where user-controllable data is directly used in redirect operations without proper security controls. The potential for cascading security issues exists as compromised users may inadvertently forward malicious links to other users, amplifying the attack surface. Organizations should immediately implement network-level controls to block known malicious redirect patterns while also applying vendor-provided patches to address the root cause. The vulnerability highlights the importance of proper secure coding practices and input validation in preventing common web application security flaws that can have far-reaching consequences across entire organizational ecosystems.