CVE-2023-3285 in easyappointments
Summary
by MITRE • 07/09/2024
A BOLA vulnerability in POST /appointments allows a low privileged user to create an appointment for any user in the system (including admin). This results in unauthorized data manipulation.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/09/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2023-3285 represents a critical authorization flaw classified as BOLA or Broken Object Level Authorization within a web application's appointment management system. This weakness specifically affects the POST /appointments endpoint where the application fails to properly validate user permissions when creating new appointment records. The flaw allows a low privileged user to manipulate the system by submitting appointment requests that target other users, including administrative accounts, without proper authorization.
This vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and object level access control mechanisms within the application's backend processing logic. The system does not sufficiently verify whether the authenticated user has the authority to create appointments for the specified target user, creating a path for unauthorized data manipulation. The flaw operates at the application layer where user requests are processed, making it particularly dangerous as it bypasses normal access control checks that should prevent users from acting outside their granted privileges.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and multifaceted, as it enables unauthorized users to manipulate sensitive appointment data across the entire user base. Attackers could potentially schedule appointments for administrators, create conflicting schedules, or manipulate appointment status information that could disrupt business operations. This authorization bypass could also serve as a stepping stone for further attacks, allowing threat actors to gather information about user schedules, identify administrative accounts, or create persistent access points through scheduled appointments.
From a cybersecurity perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-285, which addresses improper authorization issues in software systems. The flaw demonstrates a clear breakdown in the principle of least privilege, where users can perform actions beyond their intended permissions. Additionally, this vulnerability maps to ATT&CK technique T1078 which covers valid accounts and privilege escalation through unauthorized access to system resources. The BOLA classification indicates that the application's object-level access controls are insufficient to prevent unauthorized access to resources that belong to other users.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2023-3285 should focus on implementing robust input validation and proper access control checks at the application level. The system must validate that the authenticated user has explicit permission to create appointments for the target user, particularly when the target is an administrator or another user with elevated privileges. Implementing proper object-level access control checks, such as verifying user ownership or role-based permissions before processing appointment creation requests, will effectively prevent this unauthorized manipulation. Additionally, logging and monitoring mechanisms should be enhanced to detect unusual appointment creation patterns that could indicate exploitation attempts. Regular security testing including penetration testing and automated vulnerability scanning should be conducted to identify similar authorization flaws in other application endpoints.