CVE-2020-24739 in iCMS
Summary
by MITRE
A CSRF vulnerability was found in iCMS v7.0.0 in the background deletion administrator account. When missing the CSRF_TOKEN and can still request normally, all administrators except the initial administrator will be deleted.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/11/2020
This vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw in the iCMS content management system version 7.0.0 that specifically targets administrative account management functions. The weakness lies in the absence of proper CSRF token validation mechanisms within the backend account deletion functionality, allowing unauthorized actors to execute destructive operations without proper authentication. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it operates on a privileged administrative interface where the absence of CSRF protection creates a path for malicious actors to compromise the entire administrative hierarchy.
The technical implementation of this flaw demonstrates a fundamental failure in the application's security architecture where the system fails to validate the authenticity of requests originating from legitimate administrative sessions. When an authenticated administrator navigates to the account deletion interface, the system should require a valid CSRF token to be present in the request parameters. However, in this case, the application accepts deletion requests even when the CSRF_TOKEN is missing or invalid, indicating a critical oversight in the request validation process. This behavior violates the core principle of CSRF protection mechanisms that are designed to ensure that requests originate from legitimate users within the intended session context.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple account deletion, as it can lead to complete administrative takeover of the CMS system. Since all administrators except the initial administrator can be deleted through this vector, an attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability gains complete control over the content management environment. This creates a cascading effect where the system becomes unusable for legitimate administrators, and the attacker can subsequently modify content, access sensitive data, or install malicious payloads. The vulnerability affects the integrity and availability of the entire CMS infrastructure, as demonstrated by the specific target of the attack on the administrative account management interface.
From a cybersecurity perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery weaknesses in software applications. The flaw also maps to several ATT&CK techniques including T1078 for valid accounts and T1566 for credential access through social engineering or exploitation of authentication bypasses. Organizations using iCMS v7.0.0 are particularly vulnerable as this represents a critical authentication bypass that could lead to complete system compromise. The vulnerability's exploitation requires minimal technical knowledge, making it attractive to threat actors who may not require advanced penetration testing skills to leverage the flaw.
The recommended mitigations for this vulnerability include immediate implementation of proper CSRF token validation across all administrative functions, including account management operations. The system should generate unique, unpredictable tokens for each user session and validate them against the request parameters before executing any administrative operations. Additionally, organizations should implement rate limiting and session monitoring to detect anomalous deletion patterns that may indicate exploitation attempts. The fix should also include proper access controls that prevent unauthorized users from accessing administrative functions, and comprehensive logging of all administrative operations to facilitate incident response and forensic analysis. These measures align with industry best practices for web application security and help prevent similar vulnerabilities from occurring in other administrative interfaces within the CMS.