CVE-2020-20945 in Qibosoft
Summary
by MITRE • 12/28/2021
A Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) in /admin/index.php?lfj=member&action=editmember of Qibosoft v7 allows attackers to arbitrarily add administrator accounts.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/31/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2020-20945 represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw within the Qibosoft v7 content management system. This weakness resides in the administrative interface at the specific endpoint /admin/index.php?lfj=member&action=editmember which lacks proper CSRF protection mechanisms. The vulnerability allows authenticated attackers to manipulate the system's administrative functions without proper authorization, creating a severe security risk for organizations relying on this platform. The flaw specifically enables attackers to add new administrator accounts, effectively granting them elevated privileges within the system.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the absence of anti-CSRF tokens or similar protective measures in the affected administrative endpoint. When a legitimate administrator performs actions within the Qibosoft v7 administration panel, the system should validate that requests originate from authorized sources. However, the missing CSRF protection means that malicious actors can craft specially crafted requests that, when executed by an authenticated administrator, will perform unauthorized administrative actions. This type of vulnerability falls under CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery weaknesses in software applications. The vulnerability operates by exploiting the trust relationship between the web application and the user's browser, where the application cannot distinguish between legitimate requests and forged requests originating from malicious sites.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is particularly severe as it provides attackers with the ability to escalate privileges within the system. By creating new administrator accounts, attackers can gain persistent access to the platform, potentially leading to complete system compromise. This allows for unauthorized modification of content, data exfiltration, and further exploitation of the compromised environment. The vulnerability affects any organization using Qibosoft v7 where administrators might be tricked into visiting malicious websites or where attackers can leverage other attack vectors to deliver the malicious requests. The risk is amplified because the attack does not require authentication credentials from the target system, making it particularly dangerous in environments where administrators regularly browse the internet or visit untrusted websites.
Organizations should implement multiple layers of defense to mitigate this vulnerability. The immediate solution involves implementing proper CSRF token validation mechanisms in all administrative endpoints, ensuring that each request contains a unique, unpredictable token that validates the user's intent. Security patches should be applied to the Qibosoft v7 platform as soon as they become available, addressing the specific CSRF weakness in the member management functionality. Network-level protections such as web application firewalls can help detect and block suspicious requests, though these should not be considered the sole defense mechanism. Additionally, implementing proper user training to avoid visiting untrusted websites while logged into administrative interfaces can reduce the attack surface. The vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1078 which covers legitimate credentials and T1548 which covers abuse of cloud platforms, as the compromised administrative accounts could be used for further attacks within the cloud environment. Regular security audits and penetration testing should be conducted to identify similar CSRF vulnerabilities in other components of the web application stack, ensuring comprehensive protection against session manipulation attacks.