9.9
CRITICAL
CVE-2021-43802
Etherpad Administrative Privilege Obtention via Malicious Import File
Description

Etherpad is a real-time collaborative editor. In versions prior to 1.8.16, an attacker can craft an `*.etherpad` file that, when imported, might allow the attacker to gain admin privileges for the Etherpad instance. This, in turn, can be used to install a malicious Etherpad plugin that can execute arbitrary code (including system commands). To gain privileges, the attacker must be able to trigger deletion of `express-session` state or wait for old `express-session` state to be cleaned up. Core Etherpad does not delete any `express-session` state, so the only known attacks require either a plugin that can delete session state or a custom cleanup process (such as a cron job that deletes old `sessionstorage:*` records). The problem has been fixed in version 1.8.16. If users cannot upgrade to 1.8.16 or install patches manually, several workarounds are available. Users may configure their reverse proxies to reject requests to `/p/*/import`, which will block all imports, not just `*.etherpad` imports; limit all users to read-only access; and/or prevent the reuse of `express_sid` cookie values that refer to deleted express-session state. More detailed information and general mitigation strategies may be found in the GitHub Security Advisory.

INFO

Published Date :

Dec. 9, 2021, 11:15 p.m.

Last Modified :

Aug. 31, 2023, 4:19 p.m.

Source :

[email protected]

Remotely Exploitable :

Yes !

Impact Score :

6.0

Exploitability Score :

3.1
Affected Products

The following products are affected by CVE-2021-43802 vulnerability. Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the products that are affected, the information is not represented in the table below.

ID Vendor Product Action
1 Etherpad etherpad
: Total Affected Vendor : 1 | Products : 1
References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools

Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to CVE-2021-43802.

URL Resource
https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite/compare/b7065eb9a0ec7c3c265f8cfeb2534efe6f036456...77bcb507b30e762e9375b0511b3763e0162aae53 Patch Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite/issues/5010 Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite/releases/tag/1.8.16 Release Notes Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite/security/advisories/GHSA-w3g3-qf3g-2mqc Mitigation Patch Third Party Advisory

We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).

Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.

The following list is the news that have been mention CVE-2021-43802 vulnerability anywhere in the article.

The following table lists the changes that have been made to the CVE-2021-43802 vulnerability over time.

Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.

  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    May. 14, 2024

    Action Type Old Value New Value
  • Reanalysis by [email protected]

    Aug. 31, 2023

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added CWE NIST NVD-CWE-Other
  • Initial Analysis by [email protected]

    Dec. 15, 2021

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added CVSS V2 NIST (AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:C/I:C/A:C)
    Added CVSS V3.1 NIST AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
    Changed Reference Type https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite/compare/b7065eb9a0ec7c3c265f8cfeb2534efe6f036456...77bcb507b30e762e9375b0511b3763e0162aae53 No Types Assigned https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite/compare/b7065eb9a0ec7c3c265f8cfeb2534efe6f036456...77bcb507b30e762e9375b0511b3763e0162aae53 Patch, Third Party Advisory
    Changed Reference Type https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite/issues/5010 No Types Assigned https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite/issues/5010 Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory
    Changed Reference Type https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite/releases/tag/1.8.16 No Types Assigned https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite/releases/tag/1.8.16 Release Notes, Third Party Advisory
    Changed Reference Type https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite/security/advisories/GHSA-w3g3-qf3g-2mqc No Types Assigned https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite/security/advisories/GHSA-w3g3-qf3g-2mqc Mitigation, Patch, Third Party Advisory
    Added CWE NIST CWE-20
    Added CPE Configuration OR *cpe:2.3:a:etherpad:etherpad:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions up to (excluding) 1.8.16
EPSS is a daily estimate of the probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days. Following chart shows the EPSS score history of the vulnerability.
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration

While CVE identifies specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2021-43802 is associated with the following CWEs:

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC) stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2021-43802 weaknesses.

CAPEC-3: Using Leading 'Ghost' Character Sequences to Bypass Input Filters Using Leading 'Ghost' Character Sequences to Bypass Input Filters CAPEC-7: Blind SQL Injection Blind SQL Injection CAPEC-8: Buffer Overflow in an API Call Buffer Overflow in an API Call CAPEC-9: Buffer Overflow in Local Command-Line Utilities Buffer Overflow in Local Command-Line Utilities CAPEC-10: Buffer Overflow via Environment Variables Buffer Overflow via Environment Variables CAPEC-13: Subverting Environment Variable Values Subverting Environment Variable Values CAPEC-14: Client-side Injection-induced Buffer Overflow Client-side Injection-induced Buffer Overflow CAPEC-22: Exploiting Trust in Client Exploiting Trust in Client CAPEC-23: File Content Injection File Content Injection CAPEC-24: Filter Failure through Buffer Overflow Filter Failure through Buffer Overflow CAPEC-28: Fuzzing Fuzzing CAPEC-31: Accessing/Intercepting/Modifying HTTP Cookies Accessing/Intercepting/Modifying HTTP Cookies CAPEC-42: MIME Conversion MIME Conversion CAPEC-43: Exploiting Multiple Input Interpretation Layers Exploiting Multiple Input Interpretation Layers CAPEC-45: Buffer Overflow via Symbolic Links Buffer Overflow via Symbolic Links CAPEC-46: Overflow Variables and Tags Overflow Variables and Tags CAPEC-47: Buffer Overflow via Parameter Expansion Buffer Overflow via Parameter Expansion CAPEC-52: Embedding NULL Bytes Embedding NULL Bytes CAPEC-53: Postfix, Null Terminate, and Backslash Postfix, Null Terminate, and Backslash CAPEC-63: Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) CAPEC-64: Using Slashes and URL Encoding Combined to Bypass Validation Logic Using Slashes and URL Encoding Combined to Bypass Validation Logic CAPEC-67: String Format Overflow in syslog() String Format Overflow in syslog() CAPEC-71: Using Unicode Encoding to Bypass Validation Logic Using Unicode Encoding to Bypass Validation Logic CAPEC-72: URL Encoding URL Encoding CAPEC-73: User-Controlled Filename User-Controlled Filename CAPEC-78: Using Escaped Slashes in Alternate Encoding Using Escaped Slashes in Alternate Encoding CAPEC-79: Using Slashes in Alternate Encoding Using Slashes in Alternate Encoding CAPEC-80: Using UTF-8 Encoding to Bypass Validation Logic Using UTF-8 Encoding to Bypass Validation Logic CAPEC-81: Web Server Logs Tampering Web Server Logs Tampering CAPEC-83: XPath Injection XPath Injection CAPEC-85: AJAX Footprinting AJAX Footprinting CAPEC-88: OS Command Injection OS Command Injection CAPEC-101: Server Side Include (SSI) Injection Server Side Include (SSI) Injection CAPEC-104: Cross Zone Scripting Cross Zone Scripting CAPEC-108: Command Line Execution through SQL Injection Command Line Execution through SQL Injection CAPEC-109: Object Relational Mapping Injection Object Relational Mapping Injection CAPEC-110: SQL Injection through SOAP Parameter Tampering SQL Injection through SOAP Parameter Tampering CAPEC-120: Double Encoding Double Encoding CAPEC-135: Format String Injection Format String Injection CAPEC-136: LDAP Injection LDAP Injection CAPEC-153: Input Data Manipulation Input Data Manipulation CAPEC-182: Flash Injection Flash Injection CAPEC-209: XSS Using MIME Type Mismatch XSS Using MIME Type Mismatch CAPEC-230: Serialized Data with Nested Payloads Serialized Data with Nested Payloads CAPEC-231: Oversized Serialized Data Payloads Oversized Serialized Data Payloads CAPEC-250: XML Injection XML Injection CAPEC-261: Fuzzing for garnering other adjacent user/sensitive data Fuzzing for garnering other adjacent user/sensitive data CAPEC-267: Leverage Alternate Encoding Leverage Alternate Encoding CAPEC-473: Signature Spoof Signature Spoof CAPEC-588: DOM-Based XSS DOM-Based XSS CAPEC-664: Server Side Request Forgery Server Side Request Forgery
Exploit Prediction

EPSS is a daily estimate of the probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days.

0.13 }} 0.00%

score

0.46910

percentile

CVSS31 - Vulnerability Scoring System
Attack Vector
Attack Complexity
Privileges Required
User Interaction
Scope
Confidentiality
Integrity
Availability
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