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GHSA-pqg8-crx9-g8m4 BIT-typo3-2020-11069 CVE-2020-11069

Backend Same-Site Request Forgery in TYPO3 CMS

High Packagist
Severity
8.0 / 10
High · CVSS 3.1
Exploit chance (EPSS)
0.74%
Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Higher than 54.59% of scored vulnerabilities.
Known exploited
No
Not in CISA's catalog
Weakness
CWE-346 Origin Validation Error
CWE-352 Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
Fix
Available
2 packages have a fixed version

Description

Meta

  • CVSS v3.1: AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:F/RL:O/RC:C
  • CWE-352
  • CWE-346

Problem

It has been discovered that backend user interface and install tool are vulnerable to same-origin request forgery. A backend user can be tricked into interacting with a malicious resource an attacker previously managed to upload to the web server - scripts are then executed with the privileges of the victims' user session.

In a worst case scenario new admin users can be created which can directly be used by an attacker. The vulnerability is basically a cross-site request forgery (CSRF) triggered by a cross-site scripting vulnerability (XSS) - but happens on the same target host - thus, it’s actually a same-origin request forgery.

Malicious payload such as HTML containing JavaScript might be provided by either an authenticated backend user or by a non-authenticated user using a 3rd party extension - e.g. file upload in a contact form with knowing the target location.

The attacked victim requires an active and valid backend or install tool user sessions at the time of the attack to be successful.

Solution

Update to TYPO3 versions 9.5.17 or 10.4.2 that mitigates the problem described.

Additional Considerations

The deployment of additional mitigation techniques is suggested as described below.

Sudo Mode Extension

This TYPO3 extension intercepts modifications to security relevant database tables, e.g. those storing user accounts or storages of the file abstraction layer. Modifications need to confirmed by again by the acting user with providing their password again - this technique is known as "sudo mode". This way unintended actions happening in the background can be mitigated.

Content Security Policy

Content Security Policies tell (modern) browsers how resources served a particular site are handled - it also it possible to disallow script executions for specific locations. In a TYPO3 context it is suggested to disallow direct script execution at least for locations /fileadmin/ and /uploads/.

# in fileadmin/.htaccess
<IfModule mod_headers.c>
	Header add Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self'; script-src 'none';"
</IfModule>

Credits

Thanks to Matteo Bonaker who reported this issue and to TYPO3 security team member Oliver Hader who fixed the issue.

References

Affected versions

Packagist

PackageVulnerableFixed in
typo3/cms
>= 10.0.0, < 10.4.2
10.4.2
typo3/cms
>= 9.0.0, < 9.5.17
9.5.17
typo3/cms-core
>= 9.0.0, < 9.5.17
9.5.17
typo3/cms-core
>= 10.0.0, < 10.4.2
10.4.2

How to fix

Move to the fixed version or later with your package manager, update the lockfile, and run your tests. If the package only arrives through another dependency, upgrade that dependency first. If none of its releases pulls a fixed version yet, force the version with your package manager's override.

typo3/cms Packagist → 10.4.2

composer
composer require typo3/cms:^10.4.2

typo3/cms-core Packagist → 9.5.17

composer
composer require typo3/cms-core:^9.5.17

Severity breakdown

CVSS 3.1 8.0

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Weakness

CWE-346: Origin Validation Error

The product does not properly verify that the source of data or communication is valid.

CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)

The web application does not, or cannot, sufficiently verify whether a request was intentionally provided by the user who sent the request, which could have originated from an unauthorized actor.

How to prevent it
  • Architecture and Design: Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid [REF-1482]. For example, use anti-CSRF packages such as the OWASP CSRFGuard. [REF-330] Another example is the ESAPI Session Management control, which includes a component for CSRF. [REF-45]
  • Implementation: Ensure that the application is free of cross-site scripting issues (CWE-79), because most CSRF defenses can be bypassed using attacker-controlled script.
  • Architecture and Design: Generate a unique nonce for each form, place the nonce into the form, and verify the nonce upon receipt of the form. Be sure that the nonce is not predictable (CWE-330). [REF-332]
  • Architecture and Design: Identify especially dangerous operations. When the user performs a dangerous operation, send a separate confirmation request to ensure that the user intended to perform that operation.
  • Architecture and Design: Use the "double-submitted cookie" method as described by Felten and Zeller: When a user visits a site, the site should generate a pseudorandom value and set it as a cookie on the user's machine. The site should require every form submission to include this value as a form value and also as a cookie value. When a POST request is sent to the site, the request should only be considered valid if the form value and the cookie value are the same. Because of the same-origin policy, an attacker cannot read or modify the value stored in the cookie. To successfully submit a form on behalf of the user, the attacker would have to correctly guess the pseudorandom value. If the pseudorandom value is cryptographically strong, this will be prohibitively difficult. This technique requires Javascript, so it may not work for browsers that have Javascript disabled. [REF-331]
  • Architecture and Design: Do not use the GET method for any request that triggers a state change.
  • Implementation: Check the HTTP Referer header to see if the request originated from an expected page. This could break legitimate functionality, because users or proxies may have disabled sending the Referer for privacy reasons.

References

Timeline

  1. Published
  2. Last updated by the source
  3. Latest EPSS score
AdvisorySeverityWhy it's related
GHSA-68jx-f42c-7599
TYPO3 CMS - Broken Access Control in Backend and Install Tool
High Also affects typo3/cms-core
GHSA-chm7-4vch-h8vr
TYPO3 CMS has Broken Access Control in its Media Module
High Also affects typo3/cms-core
GHSA-jh32-v29g-68pq
TYPO3 CMS has Privilege Escalation & SQL Injection in its Form Framework
High Also affects typo3/cms-core
GHSA-c78m-c52x-jgwp
TYPO3 CMS has Insecure Deserialization via Core API
Medium Also affects typo3/cms-core
GHSA-jf56-v8jc-jcc5
TYPO3 CMS has Broken Access Control in its File Abstraction Layer
Low Also affects typo3/cms-core
GHSA-2j54-93q2-3hjq
TYPO3 CMS has Broken Access Control in Backend API
Medium Also affects typo3/cms-core
GHSA-q93m-25xv-94hh
TYPO3 CMS: Broken Access Control in Media Module
Medium Also affects typo3/cms-core
GHSA-qcmw-6rm2-5x78
TYPO3 CMS has Broken Access Control in its DataHandler
Medium Also affects typo3/cms-core
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