CVE-2020-18124 in Indexhibit
Summary
by MITRE • 08/31/2021
A cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Indexhibit 2.1.5 allows attackers to arbitrarily reset account passwords.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/03/2021
This cross-site request forgery vulnerability exists within Indexhibit version 2.1.5, a content management system that provides web publishing capabilities for creative professionals. The flaw enables malicious actors to exploit the application's lack of proper CSRF protection mechanisms, allowing unauthorized password resets for user accounts. The vulnerability stems from the application's failure to implement robust anti-CSRF token validation in its password reset functionality, creating a significant security risk for all authenticated users.
The technical implementation of this CSRF flaw occurs when the application processes password reset requests without requiring proper validation of the request origin or user session integrity. Attackers can craft malicious web pages or email attachments that contain embedded requests to the password reset endpoint, which when triggered by unsuspecting victims, will execute the password reset without proper authorization. This represents a classic CSRF attack pattern where the victim's browser automatically includes any necessary cookies or authentication tokens, effectively impersonating the victim's authenticated session.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple account compromise, as it provides attackers with unauthorized access to user accounts and potentially sensitive content management capabilities. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability can reset any user's password, effectively taking control of their account and gaining access to all associated content, media files, and administrative functions within the Indexhibit application. This creates a persistent threat vector that can be exploited repeatedly until proper CSRF protections are implemented.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should focus on implementing robust anti-CSRF token mechanisms throughout the application's authentication flow. The solution requires generating unique, unpredictable tokens for each user session and validating these tokens on every state-changing request including password reset operations. Organizations should implement the principle of least privilege by ensuring that password reset functionality requires explicit user confirmation and verification through multiple channels. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses cross-site request forgery flaws in web applications, and represents a critical weakness in the application's security architecture that violates fundamental web security principles.
The exploitation of this vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of CSRF protection in modern web applications, particularly those handling user authentication and account management functions. Security practitioners should implement comprehensive input validation, session management, and request origin verification mechanisms to prevent similar attacks. Additionally, regular security assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to identify and remediate such vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by malicious actors in the wild. This particular flaw also relates to ATT&CK technique T1566, which covers social engineering attacks that leverage CSRF vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access to systems and accounts.