CVE-2024-27474 in Leantime
Summary
by MITRE • 04/10/2024
Leantime 3.0.6 is vulnerable to Cross Site Request Forgery (CSRF). This vulnerability allows malicious actors to perform unauthorized actions on behalf of authenticated users, specifically administrators.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/07/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-27474 affects Leantime version 3.0.6 and represents a critical cross site request forgery flaw that undermines the application's security posture. This vulnerability resides within the web application's authentication and authorization mechanisms, specifically targeting the way the system handles user sessions and request validation. The flaw enables attackers to manipulate authenticated users into executing unintended actions without their knowledge or consent, creating a significant risk for organizations relying on this project management platform. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it affects administrators, who typically possess elevated privileges and access to sensitive organizational data, making the potential impact of exploitation much more severe than typical user-level attacks.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the absence of proper request validation mechanisms within Leantime's web application framework. The application fails to implement adequate anti-CSRF tokens or other protective measures that would normally validate the authenticity of requests originating from legitimate user sessions. This weakness allows malicious actors to craft specially crafted requests that can be executed by authenticated users when they visit compromised websites or click on malicious links. The vulnerability operates by exploiting the browser's automatic inclusion of cookies and authentication tokens with each request, enabling attackers to perform actions such as modifying user permissions, deleting projects, or altering critical system configurations without proper authorization. According to CWE-352, this represents a classic cross site request forgery vulnerability where the application lacks sufficient protection against unauthorized commands issued by authenticated users.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data manipulation, as it can lead to complete system compromise when exploited by malicious actors with administrator privileges. Attackers can leverage this vulnerability to escalate their privileges within the application, potentially gaining access to sensitive project data, user information, and system configurations that are typically restricted to authorized personnel. The attack surface is particularly wide since the vulnerability affects the administrative interface, meaning that successful exploitation could result in unauthorized access to critical business processes, data exfiltration, or even complete system takeover. Organizations using Leantime 3.0.6 may face significant operational disruption and security breaches, as the vulnerability can be exploited through various attack vectors including phishing campaigns, compromised websites, or social engineering tactics that trick administrators into executing malicious requests. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this vulnerability under privilege escalation techniques, specifically targeting the web application layer where the application fails to validate request authenticity.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2024-27474 should prioritize immediate patching of the Leantime application to version 3.0.7 or later, which contains the necessary security fixes to address the CSRF vulnerability. Organizations should implement additional defensive measures such as deploying web application firewalls that can detect and block suspicious request patterns, ensuring that all user sessions contain unique anti-CSRF tokens that are validated server-side before processing any critical operations. Network administrators should also consider implementing additional monitoring and logging mechanisms to detect unusual administrative activities that might indicate successful exploitation attempts. Security teams should conduct comprehensive vulnerability assessments of their Leantime deployments and ensure that all users, particularly administrators, are educated about the risks of CSRF attacks and the importance of avoiding suspicious links or websites. The remediation process should also include reviewing and updating access controls, implementing proper session management, and establishing automated security scanning processes to identify similar vulnerabilities in other applications within the organization's infrastructure.