CVE-2024-38789 in Telegram Bot & Channel Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 01/02/2025
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Marco Milesi Telegram Bot & Channel allows Cross Site Request Forgery.This issue affects Telegram Bot & Channel: from n/a through 3.8.2.
Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/16/2025
This cross-site request forgery vulnerability resides within the Marco Milesi Telegram Bot & Channel plugin, presenting a significant security risk to users who interact with the Telegram bot functionality. The flaw allows attackers to exploit the absence of proper anti-CSRF protection mechanisms, enabling them to execute unauthorized actions on behalf of authenticated users. The vulnerability is particularly concerning as it affects versions ranging from an unspecified minimum to version 3.8.2, indicating a potentially wide attack surface across multiple releases of the plugin. The issue stems from the plugin's failure to implement robust CSRF token validation, which is a fundamental security measure required to prevent malicious actors from hijacking user sessions and performing unauthorized operations.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability demonstrates a clear violation of security best practices and aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery vulnerabilities. Attackers can leverage this weakness by crafting malicious web pages or embedding malicious links that, when clicked by an authenticated user, trigger unintended actions within the Telegram bot interface. The operational impact extends beyond simple data manipulation to potentially allow full account compromise, unauthorized message sending, channel management alterations, and other privileged operations that the plugin facilitates. This vulnerability represents a critical failure in the plugin's session management and request validation mechanisms, creating a pathway for attackers to exploit user trust and execute malicious commands without their knowledge or consent.
The exploitation of this CSRF vulnerability can lead to severe consequences including unauthorized access to Telegram channels, manipulation of bot configurations, sending spam messages, and potential data exfiltration from affected systems. Security professionals should note that this issue directly violates the principle of least privilege and demonstrates inadequate input validation and request integrity checks. The impact on affected users and administrators can be substantial, as compromised bots may be used for phishing campaigns, spam distribution, or as part of larger attack chains targeting other systems. Organizations utilizing this plugin should immediately assess their exposure and implement mitigations to protect against potential exploitation attempts.
Recommended mitigation strategies include implementing robust anti-CSRF token generation and validation mechanisms, ensuring all state-changing operations require proper authentication tokens, and updating to the latest available version of the plugin. The fix should incorporate proper token handling that includes secure generation, storage, and validation procedures. Additionally, administrators should conduct thorough security assessments of all plugin components and implement network-level protections such as web application firewalls to detect and prevent exploitation attempts. Security monitoring should be enhanced to detect unusual bot behavior patterns that may indicate successful CSRF attacks. The implementation of these protections aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566 which covers social engineering through phishing and malicious link delivery, and T1071 which addresses application layer protocol usage for command and control communications. Organizations should also consider implementing multi-factor authentication for bot management interfaces and regular security audits to identify similar vulnerabilities across their digital infrastructure.