Dreamer CMS (Content Management System) v4.1.3, a popular web application software for building and managing websites, has been found to contain an arbitrary file read vulnerability. This vulnerability, identified as CVE-2023-43856, resides in the component /admin/TemplateController.java. If exploited, this vulnerability can potentially enable an attacker to access sensitive information and files residing on the hosting server. This blog post will discuss the details of this vulnerability, including its potential impact, how to reproduce it, and possible mitigations.
Vulnerability Details
CVE-2023-43856 affects the /admin/TemplateController.java component of Dreamer CMS, which is responsible for handling template-related operations in the application. The issue occurs due to improper input validation and access control on parameters passed to several critical functions in this component. These functions include:
saveTemplate()
By exploiting this vulnerability, an attacker could potentially access sensitive files, such as configuration files, source code files, and even database credentials, without needing any authentication. This constitutes a serious security issue, as it can potentially lead to system compromise and data leakage.
Exploit Code Snippet
To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker could craft an HTTP request targeting the /admin/TemplateController.java file download functionality. A sample code snippet to illustrate the exploit is:
POST /admin/TemplateController.java/downloadTemplate/htdocs HTTP/1.1
Host: target.com
User-Agent: Mozilla/5. (Windows NT 10.; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/58..3029.110 Safari/537.36
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: 99
templateName=../../../../../etc/passwd
In the above code snippet, the attacker sends a POST request to the downloadTemplate() function with a malicious 'templateName' parameter. By using directory traversal sequences (e.g. ../../), the attacker can potentially access files located outside of the intended template directory.
The vulnerability was originally reported on the following websites
Recommended Mitigations
To protect your Dreamer CMS v4.1.3 installation against this vulnerability, it is advised to follow these two primary mitigation steps:
1. Update Dreamer CMS: Upgrading to the latest version, as the developers may have already released a patch addressing this vulnerability.
2. Implement Proper Input Validation and Access Control: Apply validation and access control checks on all user input, especially on critical components like /admin/TemplateController.java. Ensure that user-provided parameters are not allowed to access or manipulate files outside of their intended scope.
Always stay up-to-date with security advisories and patch your systems frequently to protect them from known vulnerabilities.
Conclusion
CVE-2023-43856 is a critical arbitrary file read vulnerability discovered in Dreamer CMS v4.1.3. By exploiting this issue, an attacker can potentially access sensitive files and information on the hosting server. To mitigate this threat, it is crucial for web application administrators to be vigilant about updates and implementing proper input validation and access control checks on their systems.
Timeline
Published on: 09/27/2023 15:19:34 UTC
Last modified on: 09/28/2023 15:48:31 UTC