CVE-2022-43687 in Concrete
Summary
by MITRE • 11/15/2022
Concrete CMS (formerly concrete5) below 8.5.10 and between 9.0.0 and 9.1.2 does not issue a new session ID upon successful OAuth authentication. Remediate by updating to Concrete CMS 9.1.3+ or 8.5.10+.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/30/2025
Concrete CMS versions prior to 8.5.10 and between 9.0.0 and 9.1.2 contain a critical session management vulnerability that exposes systems to session fixation attacks. This flaw occurs because the application fails to regenerate session identifiers following successful OAuth authentication processes, creating a persistent security risk for authenticated users. The vulnerability directly maps to CWE-384, which specifically addresses session fixation issues where applications do not properly invalidate or replace session tokens after authentication events. When users authenticate through OAuth providers such as Google, Facebook, or other supported identity providers, the system maintains the original session identifier rather than generating a new one, allowing potential attackers to exploit this weakness.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple session management concerns and creates significant risks for concrete5 implementations. Attackers who can intercept or predict session tokens can potentially hijack user sessions, especially when users authenticate through OAuth flows that may be susceptible to man-in-the-middle attacks or when session cookies are transmitted over unencrypted channels. The vulnerability becomes particularly dangerous in environments where concrete5 serves as a content management platform for sensitive organizations, as it could enable unauthorized access to administrative functions, content modification capabilities, and user data management features. This flaw directly aligns with ATT&CK technique T1548.005, which covers legitimate credentials and session management abuse through session fixation methods.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from improper session handling within the OAuth authentication flow within concrete5's security architecture. When users complete OAuth authentication, the system should execute a session regeneration process that invalidates the previous session and creates a new secure identifier. However, the affected versions fail to implement this critical security measure, leaving session tokens vulnerable to exploitation. This issue represents a fundamental flaw in the application's security controls and demonstrates poor adherence to secure coding practices for session management. The vulnerability affects all OAuth integration points within the concrete5 framework, including third-party provider integrations, making it a systemic security concern rather than an isolated component issue. Organizations using these vulnerable versions should immediately implement the recommended remediation by upgrading to concrete5 version 9.1.3 or higher, or version 8.5.10 and above, to ensure proper session regeneration occurs upon successful authentication events. The upgrade process should include thorough testing of OAuth functionality to confirm that session management operates correctly and that the regenerated session identifiers properly isolate authenticated user contexts from potential exploitation attempts.