CVE-2023-5498 in chiefonboarding
Summary
by MITRE • 10/25/2023
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) in GitHub repository chiefonboarding/chiefonboarding prior to v2.0.47.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/28/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2023-5498 represents a critical cross-site request forgery weakness discovered in the chiefonboarding/chiefonboarding GitHub repository. This issue affects versions prior to v2.0.47 and demonstrates a fundamental flaw in the application's session management and request validation mechanisms. The vulnerability stems from the application's failure to properly validate and authenticate user requests, creating an exploitable condition where malicious actors can manipulate authenticated users into performing unintended actions. The flaw operates by bypassing the standard security controls that should verify the legitimacy of requests originating from authorized users, potentially allowing unauthorized modifications to system configurations or user data.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability involves the absence of proper anti-forgery tokens or other validation mechanisms within the application's request processing pipeline. When users interact with the web application, legitimate requests should include unique tokens that verify the user's intent and session authenticity. Without these protective measures, attackers can craft malicious requests that appear to originate from authenticated users, exploiting the trust relationship between the user's browser and the vulnerable application. This weakness specifically affects the repository's authentication and authorization workflows, potentially enabling attackers to execute administrative functions or modify critical system parameters without proper authorization.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data manipulation, as it can compromise the integrity and confidentiality of the entire system. An attacker exploiting this CSRF flaw could potentially modify user permissions, alter system configurations, or perform destructive operations that affect the repository's functionality and security posture. The vulnerability's severity is amplified by the fact that it affects a widely used onboarding platform, meaning that successful exploitation could compromise multiple user accounts and system components. Organizations relying on this repository for their operational workflows face significant risk of unauthorized access and potential data breaches, particularly when users navigate to malicious sites or click on compromised links.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2023-5498 should focus on implementing robust anti-forgery token mechanisms and strengthening the application's request validation processes. The most effective solution involves deploying unique, unpredictable tokens for each user session that must be present and valid for any state-changing requests. This approach aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses cross-site request forgery vulnerabilities in web applications. Security teams should also implement proper Content Security Policy headers, enforce strict referer validation, and ensure that all authenticated requests undergo comprehensive verification before execution. Additionally, the remediation process requires updating to version 2.0.47 or later, which includes the necessary patches to address the CSRF implementation gaps. Organizations should conduct thorough security assessments of their web applications to identify similar vulnerabilities and implement comprehensive testing procedures to prevent future occurrences of this class of weakness. The implementation of these controls aligns with ATT&CK technique T1531, which focuses on credential access through manipulation of authentication processes, ensuring that the application's security controls properly validate user intent and maintain session integrity throughout the application lifecycle.