CVE-2022-41446: CodeIgniter Record Management System v1. Vulnerable to Access Control Issues in /Admin/dashboard.php

A recent vulnerability, identifier CVE-2022-41446, has been discovered in the Record Management System using CodeIgniter v1.. This vulnerability allows attackers to gain unauthorized access to sensitive user information and modify user data. The issue arises due to improper access control in the /Admin/dashboard.php file. In this long read, we will delve into the details of this vulnerability, understand the code responsible for this flaw, and evaluate possible exploit scenarios.

Exploit Details

The root cause of this vulnerability is inadequate access control in the /Admin/dashboard.php file. Attackers can exploit this by sending specially crafted HTTP requests to access potentially sensitive user data and modify the contents without proper authorization.

Let's examine the flawed code snippet in /Admin/dashboard.php

// CodeIgniter v1. /Admin/dashboard.php
public function index()
{
    // Check for user session
    if($this->session->userdata('logged_in') != TRUE)
    {
        redirect('/login');
    }

    // ...
    // Continue processing and displaying user data
}

As we can see in the code snippet above, the application checks if the user is logged in by verifying whether the session variable 'logged_in' is set to TRUE. If this condition is not met, the user is redirected to the login page. Otherwise, the application continues to process and display user data.

This check is insufficient because malicious attackers can manipulate session variables and bypass this access control mechanism. By simply setting the 'logged_in' session variable to TRUE, an attacker can gain unauthorized access to the /Admin/dashboard.php page and modify user data.

Original References

1. CVE Details: https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2022-41446
2. NVD - https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-41446

URL Manipulation

An attacker may craft a URL with modified session variables to set the 'logged_in' variable to TRUE. This will grant unauthorized access to the /Admin/dashboard.php page and potentially expose sensitive user information.

Cross-Site Scripting

Attackers might exploit existing Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities within the application to inject malicious JavaScript code that could alter session variables and gain unauthorized access to sensitive data.

Mitigation

The developers of the Record Management System using CodeIgniter v1. should implement stricter access controls surrounding user authentication and session management. It is recommended to utilize CodeIgniter's built-in authentication library, as this provides stronger security measures to safeguard against unauthorized access.

Conclusion

The Record Management System using CodeIgniter v1. is vulnerable to access control issues due to a flaw in its /Admin/dashboard.php file (CVE-2022-41446). Attackers can exploit this vulnerability to access and modify sensitive user information. Developers should implement stronger access control mechanisms to prevent unauthorized access and protect the integrity of user data.

Timeline

Published on: 11/23/2022 03:15:00 UTC
Last modified on: 11/28/2022 19:52:00 UTC