Multiple vulnerabilities in EspoCRM

High-Tech Bridge Security Research Lab discovered multiple high-risk vulnerabilities in EspoCRM, which can be exploited by remote attacker to execute arbitrary PHP code on a vulnerable system, reinstall the application from scratch, and compromise the entire system as the result. EspoCRM is also vulnerable to less critical Cross-Site Scripting attacks.

1. PHP File Inclusion in EspoCRM: CVE-2014-7985

The vulnerability exists due to absence of sanitization of input data passed via the “action” HTTP GET parameter to “/install/index.php” script before using them in PHP “include()” function. A remote unauthenticated attacker can include and execute arbitrary local PHP files on the system with privileges of the web server.

Successful exploitation of the vulnerability may allow complete application and system compromise.

Below is a simple PoC (Proof-of-Concept) code that uses path traversal technique to include “/tmp/file.php” file (you can include any other file, content of which you control):

http://[host]/install/index.php?installProcess=1&action=…/…/…/…/…/…/… /…/ tmp/file

The installation script is not deleted after installation, and is accesible without any authentication by default.

2. Improper Access Control in EspoCRM: CVE-2014-7986

The vulnerability is caused by insufficient access control restriction to the installation script “/install/index.php”. Additionally the application fails to properly check whether it was already installed on the system. A remote attacker can set the "installProcess” HTTP GET parameter to 1 and reinstall the application.

The following HTP GET request starts a new installation process:

http://[host]/install/index.php?installProcess=1

3. Reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) in EspoCRM: CVE-2014-7987

Input passed via the “desc” HTTP GET parameter to “/install/index.php” script is not properly sanitized before being returned to the user. A remote attacker can trick a user to open a specially crafted link and execute arbitrary HTML and script code in browser in context of the vulnerable website.

The exploitation example below uses the “alert()” JavaScript function to display “immuniweb” word:

http://[host]/install/index.php?installProcess=1&action=errors&desc=%3Cscrip t%3E alert%28%27immuniweb%27%29;%3C/script%3E