Source: cve@mitre.org
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in admin.php in Zenphoto before 1.4.9 allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of admin users for requests that may cause a denial of service (resource consumption).
Zenphoto versions prior to 1.4.9 are vulnerable to a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) attack, allowing attackers to potentially hijack administrator sessions and trigger a denial-of-service (DoS) condition. This vulnerability enables attackers to perform unauthorized actions on the vulnerable Zenphoto installation, leading to resource exhaustion and potential system compromise.
Step 1: Victim Authentication: An administrator of the vulnerable Zenphoto installation is logged in to their admin panel.
Step 2: Attacker Crafting: The attacker crafts a malicious request, typically in the form of an HTML form or JavaScript code. This request is designed to trigger a resource-intensive action within the Zenphoto admin interface.
Step 3: Payload Delivery: The attacker delivers the malicious request to the victim, often through social engineering techniques such as phishing emails or malicious websites. The request is designed to be executed automatically when the victim visits the attacker's site or opens a malicious email.
Step 4: Request Submission: The victim's web browser, while still authenticated to the Zenphoto admin panel, unknowingly submits the crafted request to the admin.php file.
Step 5: Vulnerability Exploitation: Because the request lacks proper CSRF protection, the Zenphoto server processes the malicious request as if it originated from the legitimate administrator. This could involve actions that consume excessive server resources, such as repeated database queries or file uploads.
Step 6: Denial of Service: The resource-intensive actions triggered by the malicious request lead to a denial-of-service condition, making the Zenphoto installation unavailable to legitimate users.
The vulnerability stems from a lack of proper CSRF protection in the admin.php file of Zenphoto. Specifically, the application fails to validate the origin of requests, allowing attackers to craft malicious requests that are executed with the privileges of an authenticated administrator. The root cause is the absence of CSRF tokens or other mechanisms to verify the authenticity of requests, combined with the execution of administrative functions without sufficient input validation. This allows an attacker to trigger actions that consume excessive resources, leading to a DoS. The specific flaw lies in the lack of origin validation when processing requests in admin.php, allowing an attacker to craft a malicious request that, when submitted by an authenticated admin, can lead to resource exhaustion.
No specific APT groups or malware families are directly linked to this specific CVE. However, the nature of the vulnerability makes it attractive to attackers seeking to disrupt services or gain unauthorized access. Not listed on CISA KEV.
Monitor web server logs for unusual activity, such as a sudden spike in requests to admin.php or other administrative endpoints.
Analyze HTTP request headers for suspicious Referer or Origin values, which might indicate a CSRF attack.
Implement intrusion detection systems (IDS) with rules specifically designed to detect CSRF attempts against Zenphoto.
Monitor server resource usage (CPU, memory, disk I/O) for anomalies that could indicate a DoS attack.
Review web server access logs for suspicious user-agent strings or patterns of requests that deviate from normal administrative activity.
Upgrade to Zenphoto version 1.4.9 or later, which includes a fix for the CSRF vulnerability.
Implement CSRF protection mechanisms in the application code, such as using CSRF tokens in forms and validating the Origin or Referer headers.
Enforce strict input validation on all administrative functions to prevent resource exhaustion.
Implement a web application firewall (WAF) to filter malicious requests.
Regularly audit the application code for security vulnerabilities.
Educate administrators about the risks of CSRF attacks and social engineering techniques.