CVE-2019-9080 in DomainMod
Summary
by MITRE • 10/21/2020
DomainMOD before 4.14.0 uses MD5 without a salt for password storage.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/21/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2019-9080 affects DomainMOD versions prior to 4.14.0 and represents a critical weakness in the application's password storage mechanisms. This flaw stems from the application's implementation of cryptographic hashing for user credentials, where MD5 algorithm is employed without proper salting techniques. The absence of salt in the hashing process creates significant security vulnerabilities that can be exploited by malicious actors to compromise user accounts and gain unauthorized access to sensitive data.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability resides in the application's authentication system where passwords are processed through the MD5 hashing algorithm without incorporating a unique salt value for each password. This approach violates fundamental security principles and creates predictable hash outputs for identical passwords, making the system susceptible to various attack vectors including rainbow table attacks and brute force attempts. The MD5 algorithm itself, while not inherently broken for all applications, becomes critically weak when used without salt due to its deterministic nature and the availability of precomputed hash tables.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability exposes DomainMOD users to substantial risk as attackers can leverage precomputed MD5 hash tables to quickly reverse engineer passwords, particularly common or default credentials. The vulnerability affects all user accounts within the affected system, potentially allowing unauthorized access to sensitive business data, financial information, and user personal details. Security researchers have identified that this weakness can be exploited using standard penetration testing tools and techniques, making it accessible to both skilled attackers and automated exploitation tools.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-327, which specifically addresses the use of weak cryptographic algorithms and improper implementation of hashing functions. This weakness also maps to ATT&CK technique T1212, which covers exploitation of software vulnerabilities for credential access. Organizations using DomainMOD versions prior to 4.14.0 face significant risk of data breaches and compliance violations, particularly in regulated environments where proper password storage mechanisms are required by standards such as NIST SP 800-63B and ISO 27001.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate upgrading to DomainMOD version 4.14.0 or later, which implements proper password hashing with salt values. Organizations should also conduct comprehensive password resets for all affected user accounts and implement additional security measures including multi-factor authentication. The fix should incorporate industry-standard password hashing algorithms such as bcrypt, scrypt, or PBKDF2 with appropriate salt generation and iteration counts to ensure robust protection against modern cryptographic attacks and meet regulatory compliance requirements for secure credential storage.