CVE-2023-45141: CSRF Token Validation Vulnerability

A Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability has been identified in the application, which allows an attacker to obtain tokens and forge malicious requests on behalf of a user. This can lead to unauthorized actions being taken on the user’s behalf, potentially compromising the security and integrity of the application.

Vulnerability Details

The vulnerability is caused by improper validation and enforcement of CSRF tokens within the application. The following issues were identified:

1. Lack of Token Association: The CSRF token was validated against tokens in storage but was not tied to the original requestor that generated it, allowing for token reuse.

Remediation

To remediate this vulnerability, it is recommended to take the following actions:

1. Update the Application: Upgrade the application to a fixed version with a patch for the vulnerability.

2. Implement Proper CSRF Protection: Review the updated documentation and ensure your application’s CSRF protection mechanisms follow best practices.

3. Choose CSRF Protection Method: Select the appropriate CSRF protection method based on your application’s requirements, either the Double Submit Cookie method or the Synchronizer Token Pattern using sessions.

4. Security Testing: Conduct a thorough security assessment, including penetration testing, to identify and address any other security vulnerabilities.

Defence-in-depth

Users should take additional security measures like captchas or Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) and set Session cookies with SameSite=Lax or SameSite=Secure, and the Secure and HttpOnly attributes.