CVE-2024-53573 in Unifiedtransform
Summary
by MITRE • 02/27/2025
Unifiedtransform v2.X is vulnerable to Incorrect Access Control. Unauthorized users can access and manipulate endpoints intended exclusively for administrative use. This issue specifically affects teacher/edit/{id}.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/01/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-53573 represents a critical access control flaw within Unifiedtransform v2.X software systems that directly compromises the security boundaries designed to protect administrative functions. This weakness allows unauthorized users to gain access to sensitive administrative endpoints that should only be accessible to authorized personnel with proper authentication and authorization credentials. The specific endpoint affected is the teacher/edit/{id} route which serves as a critical administrative interface for modifying teacher records and related data within the system. This misconfiguration creates a direct pathway for privilege escalation attacks where malicious actors can manipulate user data without proper authorization.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and authentication checks within the application's access control mechanisms. When users attempt to access the teacher/edit/{id} endpoint, the system fails to properly verify whether the requesting user possesses the necessary administrative privileges required to perform modifications to teacher records. This flaw typically manifests when the application relies on session-based authentication without implementing proper role-based access control (RBAC) checks or when the authorization logic fails to validate user permissions against the requested resource. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-285 which specifically addresses improper authorization issues in software systems, and represents a clear violation of the principle of least privilege that should govern all administrative access points.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data exposure to encompass potential system compromise and data integrity violations. Unauthorized users who exploit this flaw can modify teacher records, potentially altering grades, personal information, or access permissions for educational personnel. This access control failure enables attackers to perform unauthorized modifications that could disrupt educational operations, compromise student privacy, or create backdoors for further system infiltration. The vulnerability creates opportunities for attackers to escalate their privileges within the system, potentially leading to full administrative control over the Unifiedtransform platform. From an attacker's perspective, this represents a low-effort, high-impact vector that could be exploited through automated scanning tools or manual reconnaissance efforts.
Security professionals should implement immediate mitigations including comprehensive access control reviews, mandatory authentication verification for all administrative endpoints, and implementation of proper role-based access control mechanisms. The system should enforce strict authorization checks before allowing access to any administrative functions, particularly those involving user data modification. Organizations should also implement robust logging and monitoring of administrative access attempts to detect potential exploitation attempts. This vulnerability demonstrates the importance of following secure coding practices and implementing defense-in-depth strategies that include multiple layers of access control verification. The remediation process should include code review of all administrative endpoints, implementation of proper input validation, and ensuring that all user interactions with sensitive data require explicit authorization tokens or session-based verification. Additionally, the system should be configured to automatically invalidate sessions when suspicious access patterns are detected and maintain audit trails for all administrative activities. This vulnerability exemplifies the critical need for regular security assessments and adherence to established security frameworks such as those recommended by the ATT&CK framework for preventing unauthorized access to privileged system functions.