CVE-2022-0197 in phoronix-test-suite
Summary
by MITRE • 01/13/2022
phoronix-test-suite is vulnerable to Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/09/2025
The phoronix-test-suite application presents a critical cross-site request forgery vulnerability that enables attackers to perform unauthorized actions on behalf of authenticated users. This vulnerability stems from insufficient validation of request origins and lack of proper anti-CSRF token implementation within the web interface. The flaw exists in the application's handling of user sessions and request processing, where the system fails to verify that requests originate from legitimate sources within the same domain. Attackers can exploit this weakness by crafting malicious web pages or emails that, when visited by an authenticated user, automatically submit requests to the vulnerable phoronix-test-suite instance without the user's knowledge or consent.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability involves the application's failure to enforce proper origin validation mechanisms and the absence of anti-CSRF tokens in critical operations. When users access the phoronix-test-suite web interface, the application should verify that requests come from authorized sources and contain valid authentication tokens. However, the system relies on session cookies alone for authentication without implementing additional protection measures such as one-time tokens or referer header validation. This creates an environment where malicious actors can construct web pages containing embedded requests that automatically execute when users navigate to them, particularly targeting administrative functions within the test suite management interface.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data manipulation to potentially compromise system integrity and user privacy. An attacker who successfully exploits this CSRF flaw could perform administrative actions such as modifying test configurations, deleting test results, adding malicious test suites, or altering user permissions within the phoronix-test-suite environment. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because phoronix-test-suite is commonly used in performance testing environments where users may have elevated privileges, making the potential attack surface more significant. Additionally, the impact could extend to system stability if attackers manipulate test execution parameters or introduce malicious test configurations that could affect system performance monitoring and benchmarking activities.
Mitigation strategies for this CSRF vulnerability should focus on implementing robust anti-CSRF protection mechanisms throughout the application's web interface. Organizations should ensure that all state-changing operations within the phoronix-test-suite web application require the presence of valid anti-CSRF tokens that are generated per session and validated on each request. The implementation should follow established security best practices such as those outlined in the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) CSRF prevention guidelines and align with CWE-352 standards for cross-site request forgery vulnerabilities. Additionally, implementing proper origin validation checks and enforcing the use of secure HTTP headers including Content Security Policy (CSP) directives can significantly reduce the attack surface. Regular security audits and penetration testing should be conducted to ensure that all web interfaces within the application maintain proper CSRF protection mechanisms and that any future development maintains these security controls as part of the software development lifecycle.