CVE-2024-22186 in Compact DAB Transmitter
Summary
by MITRE • 04/19/2024
The application suffers from a privilege escalation vulnerability. An attacker logged in as guest can escalate his privileges by poisoning the cookie to become administrator.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/23/2024
This vulnerability represents a critical privilege escalation flaw that allows unauthenticated or low-privilege users to gain administrative access to the application. The weakness stems from inadequate session management and insufficient validation of user roles within the authentication mechanism. When a guest user accesses the application, the system should maintain strict separation between guest and administrator privileges, but the flaw enables an attacker to manipulate session cookies to assume elevated privileges. The vulnerability specifically exploits the cookie-based authentication system where the administrative role is stored within the session cookie itself, making it susceptible to manipulation by attackers who understand the cookie structure and encoding mechanisms.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves a lack of proper integrity checks on session tokens and insufficient validation of privilege levels during authentication. When the application processes a user login, it typically stores user role information within the session cookie which contains serialized data indicating whether the user is a guest or administrator. Attackers can exploit this by crafting a malicious cookie that contains administrative privileges, bypassing normal authentication checks and authorization controls. This type of vulnerability falls under the category of insecure direct object references and weak session management as defined by CWE-285 and CWE-613. The flaw represents a fundamental breakdown in the principle of least privilege and role-based access control that should be enforced at every authentication and authorization checkpoint.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and potentially catastrophic for organizations relying on the affected application. An attacker with guest access can immediately escalate to full administrative privileges without requiring additional credentials or complex attack vectors. This creates a direct pathway for data exfiltration, system compromise, and complete control over the application's functionality. The vulnerability can be exploited through simple cookie manipulation techniques, making it accessible to attackers with minimal technical expertise. Organizations may face regulatory compliance violations, data breaches, and significant financial losses when such vulnerabilities are exploited in production environments. The attack surface expands beyond the immediate application to potentially affect underlying infrastructure and connected systems that depend on proper authentication controls.
Mitigation strategies should focus on implementing robust session management practices and strengthening authentication mechanisms. The primary defense involves implementing secure session token generation with cryptographic integrity checks to prevent cookie manipulation. Applications should employ server-side session storage with proper access controls and regularly validate user privileges during each request. Implementing proper input validation and sanitization of session data can prevent injection attacks that might be used to manipulate cookie contents. Organizations should also deploy web application firewalls and implement strict session timeout policies to limit the window of opportunity for exploitation. Regular security testing including penetration testing and code reviews should be conducted to identify similar vulnerabilities. The implementation should align with NIST SP 800-53 security controls and follow the MITRE ATT&CK framework's privilege escalation techniques to ensure comprehensive protection against such attacks. Additionally, multi-factor authentication should be implemented to add additional layers of security beyond cookie-based authentication.