ArticleFR 11.06.2014 - 'data.php' Privilege Escalation

Advisory ID: HTB23219
Product: ArticleFR
Vendor: Free Reprintables
Vulnerable Version(s): 11.06.2014 and probably prior
Tested Version: 11.06.2014
Advisory Publication:  June 11, 2014  [without technical details]
Vendor Notification: June 11, 2014 
Public Disclosure: July 30, 2014 
Vulnerability Type: Improper Access Control [CWE-284]
CVE Reference: CVE-2014-4170
Risk Level: High 
CVSSv2 Base Score: 7.5 (AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P)
Solution Status: Solution Available
Discovered and Provided: High-Tech Bridge Security Research Lab ( https://www.htbridge.com/advisory/ ) 

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Advisory Details:

High-Tech Bridge Security Research Lab discovered vulnerability in ArticleFR, which can be exploited to execute arbitrary UPDATE SQL statements, alter information stored in database and gain complete control over the web site.


1) Improper Access Control in ArticleFR: CVE-2014-4170

The vulnerability exists due to insufficient access restrictions when accessing the "/data.php" script. A remote attacker can send a specially crafted HTTP GET request to vulnerable script and execute arbitrary UPDATE SQL commands in application’s database. Successful exploitation of the vulnerability allows modification of arbitrary database record. A remote attacker can modify or delete information stored in database and gain complete control over the application. 

The following exploitation example assigns administrative privileges to the user with "id=2":

http://[host]/data.php?pk=2&pkf=id&f=membership&value=admin&t=users

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Solution:

Disclosure timeline:
2014-06-11 Vendor Alerted via emails and contact form.
2014-06-19 Vendor Alerted via emails and contact form.
2014-06-24 Vendor Alerted via contact form.
2014-06-26 Fix Requested via emails and contact forms.
2014-06-26 Issue created on GitHub.
2014-06-27 Vendor says that vulnerability is fixed.
2014-06-30 Requested version number with fixes.
2014-07-03 Vendor says that vulnerability will be fixed in upcoming version 3.0.x
2014-07-07 Fix Requested via emails and contact forms.
2014-07-16 Vulnerability still exist in the latest version 3.0.2. This information was brought to vendor.
2014-07-16 Vendor disagrees that vulnerability still exist.
2014-07-27 Vendor locked and limited conversation to collaborators on GitHub.
2014-07-29 Vulnerability still exist in the latest version 3.0.4.
2014-07-30 Public disclosure with self-written patch.

Currently we are not aware of any official solution for this vulnerability.
Unofficial patch was developed by High-Tech Bridge Security Research Lab and is available here: https://www.htbridge.com/advisory/HTB23219-patch.zip

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References:

[1] High-Tech Bridge Advisory HTB23219 - https://www.htbridge.com/advisory/HTB23219 - Improper Access Control in ArticleFR.
[2] ArticleFR - http://freereprintables.com/ - Free Article Directory CMS System .
[3] Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) - http://cve.mitre.org/ - international in scope and free for public use, CVE® is a dictionary of publicly known information security vulnerabilities and exposures.
[4] Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) - http://cwe.mitre.org - targeted to developers and security practitioners, CWE is a formal list of software weakness types.
[5] ImmuniWeb® SaaS - https://www.htbridge.com/immuniweb/ - hybrid of manual web application penetration test and cutting-edge vulnerability scanner available online via a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model.

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Disclaimer: The information provided in this Advisory is provided "as is" and without any warranty of any kind. Details of this Advisory may be updated in order to provide as accurate information as possible. The latest version of the Advisory is available on web page [1] in the References.