CVE-2024-42553

Executive Summary

CVE-2024-42553 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the admin_room_added.php component of the Hotel Management System application (commit 91caab8). This flaw allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to trick an authenticated administrator into performing unintended actions, specifically escalating privileges by adding rogue admin users or modifying room access controls. The vulnerability is present in versions of the application built from the affected commit, and no official vendor patch or CVE advisory has been independently confirmed. Given the prevalence of PHP-based hotel management deployments, this represents a moderate risk to hospitality industry web applications.

Technical Analysis

CVE-2024-42553 is a classic CSRF vulnerability embedded in the admin_room_added.php endpoint of the Hotel Management System. The application is a PHP-based web system used for managing hotel reservations, room inventory, and staff accounts. The vulnerable component handles the addition of new room entries to the system, and critically, it lacks any anti-CSRF token, origin header validation, or same-site cookie enforcement.

Vulnerability Mechanism

The endpoint admin_room_added.php accepts HTTP POST requests containing parameters such as room_no, room_type, price, and importantly, administrative role assignments. The backend PHP code processes the request and updates the database without verifying that the request originated from the authenticated admin's browser session. CSRF protection is entirely absent — there is no csrf_token hidden field, no SameSite=Strict cookie attribute, and no validation of the Origin or Referer HTTP headers.

Attack Surface

• Precondition: The victim must be an authenticated administrator with an active session cookie.
• Attack Vector: Remote, network-based. An attacker crafts a malicious HTML page or link that, when visited by the victim, automatically submits a forged HTTP POST request to the vulnerable endpoint.
• Protocol: HTTP/HTTPS (depending on deployment).
• Authentication Required: Yes, for the victim (the admin), but not for the attacker.

Code-Level Explanation (Conceptual)

The vulnerable PHP handler likely resembles:

<?php
// admin_room_added.php
if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] === 'POST') {
    $room_no = $_POST['room_no'];
    $room_type = $_POST['room_type'];
    $price = $_POST['price'];
    // Direct database insertion — no CSRF token check
    mysqli_query($conn, "INSERT INTO rooms ...");
}

Since no CSRF token is checked, an attacker can force the browser to submit any valid POST payload as long as the victim's session is active. The privilege escalation aspect arises because the same endpoint (or its session state) can be abused to elevate an attacker-controlled account to admin status, or to modify room-level access permissions tied to user roles.

Exploitation Scenarios

The attack chain for CVE-2024-42553 proceeds as follows:

1. Reconnaissance: The attacker identifies a target Hotel Management System instance using Shodan or a search engine with operators such as http.title:"Hotel Management System" or http.component:"PHP". The attacker confirms the application version is at or before commit 91caab8 by fingerprinting asset paths like /admin/admin_room_added.php.

2. Crafting the Malicious Payload: The attacker creates an HTML page hosted on their own server (e.g., http://evil.com/exploit.html) containing a hidden auto-submitting form:

   <html>
   <body>
   <form action="http://target.com/admin/admin_room_added.php" method="POST" id="csrf">
     <input type="hidden" name="room_no" value="9999">
     <input type="hidden" name="room_type" value="Penthouse">
     <input type="hidden" name="price" value="1000000">
     <input type="hidden" name="role" value="admin"> <!-- privilege escalation -->
     <input type="hidden" name="user_id" value="attacker-controlled-id">
   </form>
   <script>document.getElementById('csrf').submit();</script>
   </body>
   </html>
   

   Alternatively, the attacker may use a <img> tag with an onerror attribute or a fetch() call if cross-origin resource sharing (CORS) mitigations are absent.

3. Delivery and Trigger: The attacker delivers the malicious link via phishing email, a forum post, or a compromised third-party site. The victim admin, while authenticated to the Hotel Management System, clicks the link. The browser automatically sends the forged POST request with the victim's session cookie.

4. Execution and Privilege Escalation: The server processes the request as if it were a legitimate admin action. If the payload includes a role elevation parameter (e.g., promoting a user to admin level), the attacker gains elevated privileges. At minimum, the attacker injects bogus room data, corrupting the inventory.

5. Post-Exploitation: With admin credentials (if the attacker managed to register and elevate their own account), they can access the full admin panel — viewing guest PII, modifying bookings, exfiltrating payment records, or deploying web shells if the admin panel supports template or file upload functionality.

Impact Assessment

• Confidentiality: Low-to-Moderate. Direct data exfiltration is not the primary outcome, but post-exploitation admin access can lead to disclosure of guest personal information and financial records.
• Integrity: High. The attacker can modify room inventory, alter pricing, and escalate privileges — corrupting core business data.
• Availability: Moderate. An attacker could flood the database with bogus room entries, causing denial-of-service for legitimate booking operations.
• CVSS Considerations: Although CVSS is not officially scored (N/A), based on the vulnerability class, an estimated vector of CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H would place this in the High severity band (7.0–8.9). The requirement for user interaction (admin click) and network access balances the critical impact of privilege escalation.
• Blast Radius: Any organization deploying this Hotel Management System — primarily small-to-medium hotels, resorts, and booking agencies using shared PHP hosting. The application's component-based architecture means one endpoint compromise can lead to full administrative takeover.

Detection Guidance

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2024-42553 - CSRF Attempt on Hotel Management System admin_room_added.php
id: 11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111
status: experimental
description: Detects forged POST requests to admin_room_added.php lacking CSRF tokens
logsource:
  category: webserver
  product: apache
  service: accesslog
detection:
  selection:
    cs-method: POST
    cs-uri-query|contains: admin_room_added.php
    cs-user-agent|contains: 
      - 'Mozilla'
      - 'curl'
  filter:
    referer:
      - 'http://target.com/admin/*'
      - 'https://target.com/admin/*'
  condition: selection and not filter
falsepositives:
  - Legitimate admin room additions via HTTP POST
level: high

Note: The rule flags POST requests to the vulnerable endpoint where the Referer header does not match the application's own domain, which is a strong CSRF indicator.

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2024_42553_HMS_CSRF_Exploit
{
    meta:
        author = "Valterits Threat Intelligence"
        description = "Detects phishing pages targeting Hotel Management System admin_room_added.php"
        date = "2024-11-01"
        cve = "CVE-2024-42553"
    strings:
        $endpoint = "admin_room_added.php" ascii wide
        $role_param = "role" ascii wide
        $csrf_form = "<form" ascii wide
        $auto_submit = "submit()" ascii wide
        $html_doc = "<html" ascii wide
    condition:
        $endpoint and $role_param and $csrf_form and $auto_submit and $html_doc
}

Note: This rule targets attacker-hosted HTML files that include an auto-submitting form directed at the vulnerable endpoint. It requires the presence of the endpoint URL, a role privilege parameter, and JavaScript auto-submission.

Suricata IDS Rule

alert http any any -> $HOME_NET any (
    msg:"CVE-2024-42553 Hotel Management System CSRF Exploit Attempt";
    flow:to_server,established;
    http.method; content:"POST";
    http.uri; content:"admin_room_added.php";
    http.request_body; content:"role="; nocase;
    http.request_body; content:"room_no="; nocase;
    classtype:attempted-admin;
    sid:20241101;
    rev:1;
)

Note: This rule matches HTTP POST requests to the vulnerable endpoint that contain both a room parameter and a role parameter in the request body — typical of a CSRF privilege escalation payload. The rule does not check the Referer header, as Suricata rules may be bypassed if the referer is spoofed; instead, it focuses on the malicious payload signature.

Elastic Detection

sequence by source.ip
  with maxspan=5m
  [network where event.action == "connection_attempted" and destination.port == 80 and process.name == "httpd"]
  [http where request.method == "POST" and url.path == "/admin/admin_room_added.php" and 
   request.body.text contains "role=" and request.body.text contains "room_no="]

Note: This EQL sequence first detects an HTTP connection to the web server, then matches a POST request to the vulnerable endpoint containing privilege escalation parameters. It can be further refined by excluding requests from internal admin IPs or validating the Referer header.

Splunk SPL Query

index=web sourcetype=access_combined 
| where method="POST" AND uri_path="/admin/admin_room_added.php" 
| rex field=form_data "role=(?<role_param>[^&]+)"
| rex field=form_data "room_no=(?<room_no>[^&]+)"
| where isnotnull(role_param) AND isnotnull(room_no)
| eval csrf_suspect=case(
    isnull(referer_domain) OR referer_domain != "target.com", "YES",
    referer_domain == "target.com", "NO")
| where csrf_suspect == "YES"
| table _time, src_ip, method, uri_path, referer_domain, user, role_param, room_no

Note: This SPL query filters web logs for POST requests to the vulnerable endpoint, extracts the role and room_no form parameters, and flags requests with missing or mismatched referer domains, indicating a potential CSRF attempt.

Wazuh OSSEC Rule

<group name="web,">
  <rule id="100425" level="12">
    <decoded>
      <decoder name="web-accesslog"/>
    </decoded>
    <match>POST /admin/admin_room_added.php</match>
    <regex>Referer: (?!http://target\.com|https://target\.com)</regex>
    <description>CVE-2024-42553: CSRF attempt on Hotel Management System admin_room_added.php with suspicious referer.</description>
    <group>hms_csrf,</group>
  </rule>
</group>

Note: This Wazuh rule uses a negative lookahead regex to detect POST requests to the vulnerable endpoint where the Referer header does not originate from the legitimate domain. It requires the web access log parser to correctly extract the Referer header.

Mitigation & Patch Guidance

Patch Confidence: 2/4 (CLAIMED — single source claims patch (not independently confirmed))

1) Immediate Mitigations (No Patch)

• Disable the Endpoint: If possible, restrict access to admin_room_added.php via .htaccess rules or a web application firewall (WAF) to only allow requests from specific admin IP addresses.
• Enforce CSRF Tokens: Manually patch the application to include a hidden CSRF token in all admin forms and validate it server-side using functions like hash_equals() to prevent timing attacks.
• Implement SameSite Cookies: Configure the PHP session cookie with SameSite=Strict and the HttpOnly and Secure flags in php.ini or via session_set_cookie_params().
• Origin Header Validation: Add a pre-processing step at the top of the PHP file that checks the $_SERVER['HTTP_ORIGIN'] or $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'] header against the application's known hostname, aborting if a mismatch occurs.

2) Patch/Upgrade Steps

• Identify the Fix: Contact the Hotel Management System vendor or check the project repository (commit history) for a security fix addressing CSRF in admin_room_added.php. The claimed patch has not been independently confirmed; verify its authenticity before deployment.
• Upgrade to Latest Commit: If a patched version exists (e.g., a later commit than 91caab8), update the entire application to the latest stable release. Follow the standard upgrade procedure: backup the database and files, apply the new code, and test in a staging environment.
• If No Patch: Since the CVE describes a specific commit, you may need to switch to a maintained fork of the Hotel Management System that includes CSRF protections.

3) Long-Term Hardening

• Implement a WAF: Deploy a Web Application Firewall (e.g., ModSecurity with OWASP Core Rule Set) to filter out requests lacking CSRF tokens or with suspicious form parameters.
• Credentials and Session Security: Rotate all admin credentials immediately, implement password policies, and enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA) for admin accounts.
• Audit Logs: Enable detailed request logging (body logging, not just headers) to aid future forensic analysis.
• Secure Development Practices: Adopt a security-by-design approach — include CSRF tokens, input validation, and output encoding by default in any custom web application development.
• Continuous Monitoring: Implement the Sigma, Suricata, and Splunk detections outlined above to detect CSRF attempts as they occur.

References

1. NVD Entry: CVE-2024-42553 — https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-42553 (Details sparse; no CVSS score or CWE assigned at the time of writing).
2. GitHub Commit Reference: Hotel Management System repository commit 91caab8 — the version containing the vulnerable admin_room_added.php component.
3. MITRE ATT&CK: CSRF exploitation maps to MITRE ATT&CK technique T1204.001 (User Execution: Malicious Link) combined with T1068 (Exploitation for Privilege Escalation).
4. OWASP CSRF Prevention Cheat Sheet: https://cheatsheetseries.owasp.org/cheatsheets/Cross-Site_Request_Forgery_Prevention_Cheat_Sheet.html — guidance on mitigating this vulnerability class.
5. CISA KEV: CVE-2024-42553 is not listed in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (KEV) as of the report date; no active exploitation in the wild has been officially confirmed.

Threat Actor Activity

As of this report, there is no public evidence of CVE-2024-42553 being exploited in the wild or linked to any specific threat actor campaign. The vulnerability remains a theoretical risk for organizations running the affected Hotel Management System, but the low complexity of exploitation against an internet-facing admin panel suggests it could be adopted by commodity attackers or botnets scanning for PHP web applications. Monitor internal logs continuously for the anomalies described in the Detection Guidance section.