CVE-2023-0406 in modoboa
Summary
by MITRE • 01/19/2023
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) in GitHub repository modoboa/modoboa prior to 2.0.4.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/15/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2023-0406 represents a critical cross-site request forgery weakness discovered in the modoboa email management platform prior to version 2.0.4. This issue resides within the web application's authentication and authorization mechanisms, specifically affecting the repository management functionality that handles user account modifications and administrative operations. The flaw allows malicious actors to execute unauthorized actions on behalf of authenticated users without their knowledge or consent, exploiting the absence of proper CSRF protection measures in the application's request handling processes.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the modoboa application's failure to validate the origin of HTTP requests submitted through web forms and API endpoints. When users navigate to the affected repository and perform administrative tasks, the application does not enforce the presence of anti-forgery tokens or other validation mechanisms that would verify the legitimacy of requests originating from the intended web application interface. This oversight creates a pathway for attackers to craft malicious web pages or send specially crafted HTTP requests that can trigger administrative actions such as user account modifications, password changes, or configuration alterations. The vulnerability operates under CWE-352, which specifically addresses cross-site request forgery conditions where applications fail to validate request authenticity.
The operational impact of this CSRF vulnerability extends beyond simple data manipulation to potentially compromise entire email infrastructure management systems. An attacker could exploit this weakness to modify user permissions, create new administrative accounts, alter email routing configurations, or even disable critical email services. The consequences are particularly severe in enterprise environments where modoboa serves as a central email management solution, as unauthorized modifications could disrupt business communications or provide attackers with persistent access to sensitive email data. The vulnerability affects the integrity and availability of the email management platform, potentially enabling privilege escalation attacks that could lead to complete system compromise.
Security practitioners should implement immediate mitigations including the deployment of proper anti-forgery token validation mechanisms across all user-facing forms and API endpoints within the modoboa application. Organizations must ensure that all state-changing requests require verification of the request origin and include unique, unpredictable tokens that are tied to the user session. The recommended approach involves implementing the OWASP CSRF prevention guidelines, which recommend the use of anti-forgery tokens, origin validation checks, and proper session management protocols. Additionally, the affected modoboa installations should be upgraded to version 2.0.4 or later, which includes the necessary patches to address the CSRF vulnerability. Network-level protections such as web application firewalls and request filtering mechanisms can provide additional layers of defense, though these should not replace proper application-level fixes. The mitigation strategy should also include user education regarding suspicious web content and regular security audits to identify similar vulnerabilities in other components of the email infrastructure stack.