CVE-2023-0735 in wallabag
Summary
by MITRE • 02/08/2023
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) in GitHub repository wallabag/wallabag prior to 2.5.4.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/05/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2023-0735 represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw discovered in the wallabag repository management system prior to version 2.5.4. This issue stems from the application's insufficient validation of requests originating from authenticated sessions, creating a pathway for malicious actors to execute unauthorized actions on behalf of legitimate users. The vulnerability manifests when users interact with web applications that lack proper anti-CSRF token mechanisms or fail to properly validate token authenticity, allowing attackers to craft malicious requests that appear legitimate to the application's security systems. Wallabag, being a self-hosted read-it-later application designed to store web pages for offline reading, operates under the assumption that users maintain authenticated sessions with appropriate security controls in place.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability involves the absence of robust token validation mechanisms within the application's request processing pipeline. When a user authenticates to wallabag, their session remains active and potentially vulnerable to manipulation by attackers who can construct malicious requests that leverage the authenticated user's session cookies or tokens. This flaw specifically affects the application's ability to distinguish between legitimate user-initiated requests and those generated by malicious actors, particularly in scenarios where the application handles sensitive operations such as user account modifications, content management, or configuration changes. The vulnerability falls under CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery weaknesses in software applications, and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566.002 which covers the exploitation of web application vulnerabilities through CSRF attacks.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data manipulation to potentially enable complete account compromise and unauthorized access to sensitive information. An attacker could leverage this flaw to perform actions such as creating new user accounts, modifying existing user permissions, deleting content, or changing critical system configurations without the victim's knowledge or consent. The consequences are particularly severe given that wallabag is designed to store personal reading materials, bookmarks, and potentially sensitive information from various sources, making unauthorized access to these resources a significant security concern. The vulnerability's exploitation requires minimal technical skill and can be automated through various attack vectors, including phishing campaigns or compromised websites that redirect users to malicious payloads. Organizations relying on wallabag for content management or personal information storage face substantial risk of data breaches, unauthorized modifications, and potential credential theft if they operate versions prior to 2.5.4.
The recommended mitigation strategy involves immediate deployment of the patched version 2.5.4, which implements proper CSRF token validation mechanisms and ensures that all state-changing requests require verification of authenticating tokens. System administrators should also implement additional security measures including regular security audits, monitoring for unusual user activities, and ensuring that all web applications maintain up-to-date security patches. The fix typically involves implementing synchronized token validation where each request must contain a unique, unpredictable token that is verified against the user's session state before any operation is executed. Organizations should also consider implementing additional layers of security such as multi-factor authentication, enhanced session management, and regular vulnerability assessments to prevent similar issues from occurring in other applications within their infrastructure. This vulnerability highlights the importance of maintaining current security practices and the critical nature of validating all user inputs and requests in web applications to prevent unauthorized access and manipulation.