CVE-2023-0959 in Bhima
Summary
by MITRE • 04/05/2023
Bhima version 1.27.0 allows a remote attacker to update the privileges of any account registered in the application via a malicious link sent to an administrator. This is possible because the application is vulnerable to CSRF.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/12/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2023-0959 affects Bhima version 1.27.0 and represents a critical security flaw that enables remote attackers to manipulate user privileges within the application. This vulnerability stems from the application's insufficient protection against Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks, which allows malicious actors to exploit the system's trust relationship with legitimate users. The flaw specifically permits an attacker to modify access rights for any registered account by crafting a malicious link that, when clicked by an administrator, executes unauthorized privilege changes without proper authentication or authorization checks.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability demonstrates a classic CSRF weakness where the application fails to validate the origin of requests or implement proper anti-CSRF tokens. When an administrator clicks on a maliciously crafted link, the application processes the request as if it originated from a legitimate administrative session, thereby allowing unauthorized privilege escalation. This flaw operates at the web application layer and directly impacts the application's access control mechanisms, potentially enabling attackers to elevate user permissions from standard user levels to administrative privileges or modify existing access rights for other accounts.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risks to the application's security posture and data integrity. Attackers can leverage this flaw to gain unauthorized access to sensitive administrative functions, potentially leading to complete system compromise. The impact extends beyond simple privilege changes as it can enable attackers to modify user accounts, access restricted data, perform administrative actions, and potentially establish persistent access to the system. This vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it requires minimal user interaction beyond clicking a link, making it highly exploitable in phishing campaigns or social engineering attacks.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery weaknesses in web applications. According to ATT&CK framework, this issue maps to T1531 - Account Access Removal and T1078 - Valid Accounts, as attackers can manipulate existing accounts to gain elevated privileges. The security implications suggest that organizations using Bhima version 1.27.0 should implement immediate mitigations including the implementation of anti-CSRF tokens, proper request origin validation, and session management controls. Organizations should also conduct thorough security assessments to identify other potential CSRF vulnerabilities within their web applications and ensure that all administrative functions require proper authentication and authorization checks.
Mitigation strategies should include immediate patching of the Bhima application to a version that addresses the CSRF vulnerability, implementation of anti-CSRF tokens for all state-changing operations, and enforcement of proper referer header validation. Additionally, organizations should implement web application firewalls to detect and block suspicious requests, establish regular security testing procedures including penetration testing, and conduct security awareness training for administrators to recognize potential phishing attempts. The fix should also include comprehensive logging of administrative actions to enable detection of unauthorized privilege changes and establishment of principle of least privilege controls to minimize the impact of potential compromises.