Vulnerabilities > CVE-2008-5252 - Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Mediawiki

047910
CVSS 5.8 - MEDIUM
Attack vector
NETWORK
Attack complexity
MEDIUM
Privileges required
NONE
Confidentiality impact
NONE
Integrity impact
PARTIAL
Availability impact
PARTIAL
network
mediawiki
CWE-352
nessus

Summary

Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Special:Import feature in MediaWiki 1.3.0 through 1.6.10, 1.12.x before 1.12.2, and 1.13.x before 1.13.3 allows remote attackers to perform unspecified actions as authenticated users via unknown vectors.

Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

  • JSON Hijacking (aka JavaScript Hijacking)
    An attacker targets a system that uses JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) as a transport mechanism between the client and the server (common in Web 2.0 systems using AJAX) to steal possibly confidential information transmitted from the server back to the client inside the JSON object by taking advantage of the loophole in the browser's Same Origin Policy that does not prohibit JavaScript from one website to be included and executed in the context of another website. An attacker gets the victim to visit his or her malicious page that contains a script tag whose source points to the vulnerable system with a URL that requests a response from the server containing a JSON object with possibly confidential information. The malicious page also contains malicious code to capture the JSON object returned by the server before any other processing on it can take place, typically by overriding the JavaScript function used to create new objects. This hook allows the malicious code to get access to the creation of each object and transmit the possibly sensitive contents of the captured JSON object to the attackers' server. There is nothing in the browser's security model to prevent the attackers' malicious JavaScript code (originating from attacker's domain) to set up an environment (as described above) to intercept a JSON object response (coming from the vulnerable target system's domain), read its contents and transmit to the attackers' controlled site. The same origin policy protects the domain object model (DOM), but not the JSON.
  • Cross-Domain Search Timing
    An attacker initiates cross domain HTTP / GET requests and times the server responses. The timing of these responses may leak important information on what is happening on the server. Browser's same origin policy prevents the attacker from directly reading the server responses (in the absence of any other weaknesses), but does not prevent the attacker from timing the responses to requests that the attacker issued cross domain. For GET requests an attacker could for instance leverage the "img" tag in conjunction with "onload() / onerror()" javascript events. For the POST requests, an attacker could leverage the "iframe" element and leverage the "onload()" event. There is nothing in the current browser security model that prevents an attacker to use these methods to time responses to the attackers' cross domain requests. The timing for these responses leaks information. For instance, if a victim has an active session with their online e-mail account, an attacker could issue search requests in the victim's mailbox. While the attacker is not able to view the responses, based on the timings of the responses, the attacker could ask yes / no questions as to the content of victim's e-mails, who the victim e-mailed, when, etc. This is but one example; There are other scenarios where an attacker could infer potentially sensitive information from cross domain requests by timing the responses while asking the right questions that leak information.
  • Cross Site Identification
    An attacker harvests identifying information about a victim via an active session that the victim's browser has with a social networking site. A victim may have the social networking site open in one tab or perhaps is simply using the "remember me" feature to keep his or her session with the social networking site active. An attacker induces a payload to execute in the victim's browser that transparently to the victim initiates a request to the social networking site (e.g., via available social network site APIs) to retrieve identifying information about a victim. While some of this information may be public, the attacker is able to harvest this information in context and may use it for further attacks on the user (e.g., spear phishing). In one example of an attack, an attacker may post a malicious posting that contains an image with an embedded link. The link actually requests identifying information from the social networking site. A victim who views the malicious posting in his or her browser will have sent identifying information to the attacker, as long as the victim had an active session with the social networking site. There are many other ways in which the attacker may get the payload to execute in the victim's browser mainly by finding a way to hide it in some reputable site that the victim visits. The attacker could also send the link to the victim in an e-mail and trick the victim into clicking on the link. This attack is basically a cross site request forgery attack with two main differences. First, there is no action that is performed on behalf of the user aside from harvesting information. So standard CSRF protection may not work in this situation. Second, what is important in this attack pattern is the nature of the data being harvested, which is identifying information that can be obtained and used in context. This real time harvesting of identifying information can be used as a prelude for launching real time targeted social engineering attacks on the victim.
  • Cross Site Request Forgery (aka Session Riding)
    An attacker crafts malicious web links and distributes them (via web pages, email, etc.), typically in a targeted manner, hoping to induce users to click on the link and execute the malicious action against some third-party application. If successful, the action embedded in the malicious link will be processed and accepted by the targeted application with the users' privilege level. This type of attack leverages the persistence and implicit trust placed in user session cookies by many web applications today. In such an architecture, once the user authenticates to an application and a session cookie is created on the user's system, all following transactions for that session are authenticated using that cookie including potential actions initiated by an attacker and simply "riding" the existing session cookie.

Nessus

  • NASL familyFreeBSD Local Security Checks
    NASL idFREEBSD_PKG_61B07D71CE0E11DDA7210030843D3802.NASL
    descriptionThe MediaWiki development team reports : Certain unspecified input is not properly sanitised before being returned to the user. This can be exploited to execute arbitrary HTML and script code in a user
    last seen2020-06-01
    modified2020-06-02
    plugin id35243
    published2008-12-21
    reporterThis script is Copyright (C) 2008-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.
    sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/35243
    titleFreeBSD : mediawiki -- multiple vulnerabilities (61b07d71-ce0e-11dd-a721-0030843d3802)
  • NASL familySuSE Local Security Checks
    NASL idSUSE_11_0_MEDIAWIKI-090206.NASL
    descriptionMissing checks allowed remote attackers to conduct cross-site scripting (XSS) or cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attacks against MediaWiki (CVE-2008-5250, CVE-2008-5252).
    last seen2020-06-01
    modified2020-06-02
    plugin id40064
    published2009-07-21
    reporterThis script is Copyright (C) 2009-2019 Tenable Network Security, Inc.
    sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/40064
    titleopenSUSE Security Update : mediawiki (mediawiki-506)
  • NASL familySuSE Local Security Checks
    NASL idSUSE_MEDIAWIKI-5987.NASL
    descriptionMissing checks allowed remote attackers to conduct cross-site scripting (XSS) or cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attacks against MediaWiki (CVE-2008-5250, CVE-2008-5252).
    last seen2020-06-01
    modified2020-06-02
    plugin id35679
    published2009-02-13
    reporterThis script is Copyright (C) 2009-2019 Tenable Network Security, Inc.
    sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/35679
    titleopenSUSE 10 Security Update : mediawiki (mediawiki-5987)
  • NASL familyFedora Local Security Checks
    NASL idFEDORA_2008-11743.NASL
    descriptionThis is a security release of MediaWiki 1.13.3. Some of the security issues affect *all* versions of MediaWiki except the versions released on Dec. 15th, so all site administrators are encouraged to upgrade. CVEs assigned to the mentioned MediaWiki update: CVE-2008-5249 Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in MediaWiki 1.13.0 through 1.13.2 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via unspecified vectors. CVE-2008-5250 Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in MediaWiki before 1.6.11, 1.12.x before 1.12.2, and 1.13.x before 1.13.3, when Internet Explorer is used and uploads are enabled, or an SVG scripting browser is used and SVG uploads are enabled, allows remote authenticated users to inject arbitrary web script or HTML by editing a wiki page. CVE-2008-5252 Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Special:Import feature in MediaWiki 1.3.0 through 1.6.10, 1.12.x before 1.12.2, and 1.13.x before 1.13.3 allows remote attackers to perform unspecified actions as authenticated users via unknown vectors. As well as other two issue mentioned in the upstream announcement, treated as security enhancement rather than vulnerability fixes by upstream: CVE-2008-5687 MediaWiki 1.11 through 1.13.3 does not properly protect against the download of backups of deleted images, which might allow remote attackers to obtain sensitive information via requests for files in images/deleted/. CVE-2008-5688 MediaWiki 1.8.1 through 1.13.3, when the wgShowExceptionDetails variable is enabled, sometimes provides the full installation path in a debugging message, which might allow remote attackers to obtain sensitive information via unspecified requests that trigger an uncaught exception. Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Fedora security advisory. Tenable has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible without introducing additional issues.
    last seen2020-06-01
    modified2020-06-02
    plugin id36263
    published2009-04-23
    reporterThis script is Copyright (C) 2009-2019 Tenable Network Security, Inc.
    sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/36263
    titleFedora 10 : mediawiki-1.13.3-42.fc10 (2008-11743)
  • NASL familyDebian Local Security Checks
    NASL idDEBIAN_DSA-1901.NASL
    descriptionSeveral vulnerabilities have been discovered in mediawiki1.7, a website engine for collaborative work. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project identifies the following problems : - CVE-2008-5249 David Remahl discovered that mediawiki1.7 is prone to a cross-site scripting attack. - CVE-2008-5250 David Remahl discovered that mediawiki1.7, when Internet Explorer is used and uploads are enabled, or an SVG scripting browser is used and SVG uploads are enabled, allows remote authenticated users to inject arbitrary web script or HTML by editing a wiki page. - CVE-2008-5252 David Remahl discovered that mediawiki1.7 is prone to a cross-site request forgery vulnerability in the Special:Import feature. - CVE-2009-0737 It was discovered that mediawiki1.7 is prone to a cross-site scripting attack in the web-based installer.
    last seen2020-06-01
    modified2020-06-02
    plugin id44766
    published2010-02-24
    reporterThis script is Copyright (C) 2010-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.
    sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/44766
    titleDebian DSA-1901-1 : mediawiki1.7 - several vulnerabilities
  • NASL familyFedora Local Security Checks
    NASL idFEDORA_2008-11688.NASL
    descriptionThis is a security release of MediaWiki 1.13.3. Some of the security issues affect *all* versions of MediaWiki except the versions released on Dec. 15th, so all site administrators are encouraged to upgrade. CVEs assigned to the mentioned MediaWiki update: CVE-2008-5249 Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in MediaWiki 1.13.0 through 1.13.2 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via unspecified vectors. CVE-2008-5250 Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in MediaWiki before 1.6.11, 1.12.x before 1.12.2, and 1.13.x before 1.13.3, when Internet Explorer is used and uploads are enabled, or an SVG scripting browser is used and SVG uploads are enabled, allows remote authenticated users to inject arbitrary web script or HTML by editing a wiki page. CVE-2008-5252 Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Special:Import feature in MediaWiki 1.3.0 through 1.6.10, 1.12.x before 1.12.2, and 1.13.x before 1.13.3 allows remote attackers to perform unspecified actions as authenticated users via unknown vectors. As well as other two issue mentioned in the upstream announcement, treated as security enhancement rather than vulnerability fixes by upstream: CVE-2008-5687 MediaWiki 1.11 through 1.13.3 does not properly protect against the download of backups of deleted images, which might allow remote attackers to obtain sensitive information via requests for files in images/deleted/. CVE-2008-5688 MediaWiki 1.8.1 through 1.13.3, when the wgShowExceptionDetails variable is enabled, sometimes provides the full installation path in a debugging message, which might allow remote attackers to obtain sensitive information via unspecified requests that trigger an uncaught exception. Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Fedora security advisory. Tenable has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible without introducing additional issues.
    last seen2020-06-01
    modified2020-06-02
    plugin id35265
    published2008-12-26
    reporterThis script is Copyright (C) 2008-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.
    sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/35265
    titleFedora 8 : mediawiki-1.13.3-41.99.fc8 (2008-11688)
  • NASL familyFedora Local Security Checks
    NASL idFEDORA_2008-11802.NASL
    descriptionThis is a security release of MediaWiki 1.13.3. Some of the security issues affect *all* versions of MediaWiki except the versions released on Dec. 15th, so all site administrators are encouraged to upgrade. CVEs assigned to the mentioned MediaWiki update: CVE-2008-5249 Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in MediaWiki 1.13.0 through 1.13.2 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via unspecified vectors. CVE-2008-5250 Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in MediaWiki before 1.6.11, 1.12.x before 1.12.2, and 1.13.x before 1.13.3, when Internet Explorer is used and uploads are enabled, or an SVG scripting browser is used and SVG uploads are enabled, allows remote authenticated users to inject arbitrary web script or HTML by editing a wiki page. CVE-2008-5252 Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Special:Import feature in MediaWiki 1.3.0 through 1.6.10, 1.12.x before 1.12.2, and 1.13.x before 1.13.3 allows remote attackers to perform unspecified actions as authenticated users via unknown vectors. As well as other two issue mentioned in the upstream announcement, treated as security enhancement rather than vulnerability fixes by upstream: CVE-2008-5687 MediaWiki 1.11 through 1.13.3 does not properly protect against the download of backups of deleted images, which might allow remote attackers to obtain sensitive information via requests for files in images/deleted/. CVE-2008-5688 MediaWiki 1.8.1 through 1.13.3, when the wgShowExceptionDetails variable is enabled, sometimes provides the full installation path in a debugging message, which might allow remote attackers to obtain sensitive information via unspecified requests that trigger an uncaught exception. Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Fedora security advisory. Tenable has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible without introducing additional issues.
    last seen2020-06-01
    modified2020-06-02
    plugin id35267
    published2008-12-26
    reporterThis script is Copyright (C) 2008-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.
    sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/35267
    titleFedora 9 : mediawiki-1.13.3-42.fc9 (2008-11802)