CVE-2023-4651 in icms2
Summary
by MITRE • 08/31/2023
Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) in GitHub repository instantsoft/icms2 prior to 2.16.1.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/27/2023
Server-side request forgery vulnerabilities represent a critical class of security flaws that allow attackers to manipulate server-side applications into making unintended requests to internal or external systems. This particular vulnerability exists within the instantsoft icms2 repository prior to version 2.16.1, where the application fails to properly validate and sanitize user input that is used to construct HTTP requests. The flaw enables malicious actors to bypass access controls and potentially access internal network resources that should remain protected from external exposure.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation mechanisms within the application's request handling code. When users provide data that gets processed into HTTP request parameters, the system does not sufficiently verify the destination URLs or restrict the protocols that can be used for outgoing connections. This allows attackers to craft malicious requests that could force the server to communicate with internal services such as databases, administrative interfaces, or other sensitive systems that are typically not exposed to public networks.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability creates significant risk for organizations using affected versions of the icms2 platform. Attackers could potentially access internal network resources including but not limited to database servers, service endpoints, and configuration files that contain sensitive information. The exploitation could lead to data breaches, privilege escalation, or further lateral movement within the network infrastructure. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it can be exploited through web interfaces without requiring special privileges or direct network access to internal systems.
Security professionals should address this vulnerability through immediate patching of the icms2 application to version 2.16.1 or later, which contains the necessary input validation fixes. Additional mitigations include implementing proper network segmentation to isolate critical systems from public-facing applications, deploying web application firewalls to monitor and filter suspicious requests, and conducting thorough code reviews to identify similar patterns that might exist in other parts of the application or related systems. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-918 which specifically addresses server-side request forgery flaws, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1071.004 for application layer protocol manipulation.
Organizations should also implement comprehensive monitoring and logging mechanisms to detect unusual outbound network requests that might indicate exploitation attempts. Regular security assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to identify other potential SSRF vulnerabilities throughout the application stack. The remediation process must include thorough testing to ensure that patched versions maintain all necessary functionality while eliminating the attack vector for server-side request forgery.