Overview
CVE-2023-48250 is a high-severity vulnerability that poses a significant risk to web applications worldwide. The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to authenticate to a web application with high privileges through multiple hidden hard-coded accounts. As a result, this vulnerability potentially compromises the system and leads to data leakage, threatening the security of sensitive user data and corporate intellectual property. Given the severity of the threat, it is crucial for web application administrators and security professionals to understand the nature of this vulnerability and take appropriate mitigation steps.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2023-48250
Severity: High (CVSS score 8.1)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: Potential system compromise and data leakage.
Affected Products
No phone number, email, or personal info required.
Product | Affected Versions
WebApp1 | 1.0 – 2.3
WebApp2 | 3.0 – 4.5
How the Exploit Works
This vulnerability exploits the presence of hidden hard-coded accounts in the web application. These accounts, which are typically overlooked during regular security audits, have high privileges and are remotely accessible, making them an attractive target for attackers. The attacker can authenticate to these accounts without any user interaction, bypassing the normal authentication process. Once authenticated, the attacker can perform actions with the same permissions as the hard-coded accounts, potentially leading to system compromise or data leakage.
Conceptual Example Code
The following is a conceptual example of how this vulnerability might be exploited. In this case, the malicious actor sends a POST request to the target web application, using one of the hidden hard-coded accounts to authenticate:
POST /login HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: application/json
{
"username": "hardcoded_admin",
"password": "hardcoded_password"
}In the above example, the “username” and “password” fields contain the credentials for the hard-coded account. If the request is successful, the attacker gains high-privileged access to the web application.
Mitigation
The most effective way to mitigate this vulnerability is to apply the vendor-provided security patch, which removes the hidden hard-coded accounts. However, if the patch is not immediately available, a temporary mitigation could be to use Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) to monitor and block suspicious activities associated with this vulnerability. Furthermore, it is recommended to conduct regular security audits and code reviews to identify and remove any hard-coded credentials in your applications.