CVE-2023-3589 in Teamwork Cloud
Summary
by MITRE • 10/25/2023
A Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability affecting Teamwork Cloud from No Magic Release 2021x through No Magic Release 2022x allows an attacker to send a specifically crafted query to the server.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/25/2023
The Cross-Site Request Forgery vulnerability identified as CVE-2023-3589 resides within Teamwork Cloud software produced by No Magic, impacting releases from 2021x through 2022x. This weakness represents a critical security flaw that undermines the application's ability to authenticate legitimate user requests, creating a pathway for malicious actors to manipulate system operations without proper authorization. The vulnerability specifically targets the server-side request validation mechanisms that should ensure user requests originate from legitimate sources within the application's domain.
The technical flaw manifests through the absence of proper anti-CSRF token validation within the application's request processing pipeline. When users interact with Teamwork Cloud, the system should verify that requests are initiated by authenticated users through legitimate session contexts. However, this implementation fails to properly validate or enforce CSRF protection measures, allowing attackers to construct malicious requests that appear to originate from authenticated users. The vulnerability exploits the trust relationship between the web application and its users, enabling unauthorized actions to be performed on behalf of legitimate users.
The operational impact of this CSRF vulnerability extends beyond simple data theft or manipulation, as it can enable complete compromise of user sessions and unauthorized administrative actions. Attackers can leverage this weakness to perform operations such as creating new user accounts, modifying existing user permissions, deleting critical project data, or accessing sensitive information that should remain protected. The vulnerability particularly affects collaborative environments where Teamwork Cloud serves as a central platform for project management and team coordination, potentially leading to significant business disruption and data breaches.
Organizations utilizing Teamwork Cloud within the affected release ranges face substantial risk exposure due to this vulnerability, as it requires no privileged access or complex exploitation techniques to leverage. The attack vector typically involves tricking authenticated users into visiting malicious websites or clicking on compromised links that automatically submit crafted requests to the vulnerable Teamwork Cloud instance. This makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where users may inadvertently interact with malicious content through email attachments, web browsing, or collaborative platforms. The weakness aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery vulnerabilities, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1531, which covers 'Modify System Image' through manipulation of web application functionality.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability primarily focus on implementing proper anti-CSRF token mechanisms within the application's request handling processes. Organizations should ensure that all state-changing operations require validation of anti-CSRF tokens that are tied to specific user sessions and are generated per request. The recommended approach involves implementing token-based authentication systems that are unique to each user session and validated server-side before processing any critical operations. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing Content Security Policy headers and SameSite cookie attributes to provide additional layers of protection. The most effective remediation involves updating to patched versions of Teamwork Cloud that address the specific CSRF validation flaws, while also implementing comprehensive security monitoring to detect and respond to potential exploitation attempts.