CVE-2025-0669

Executive Summary

CVE-2025-0669 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the BOINC Server application, affecting versions prior to 1.4.3. This flaw allows an attacker to trick authenticated users into executing unwanted actions on the BOINC Server, potentially leading to unauthorized configuration changes, data manipulation, or other malicious operations. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-352 (Cross-Site Request Forgery) and is associated with MITRE ATT&CK tactic T1190 (Exploit Public-Facing Application). No public proof-of-concept (PoC) or exploit code is currently available, and the EPSS score is 0.0%, indicating low exploitation likelihood at this time. However, given the nature of CSRF attacks, immediate patching is recommended to prevent potential abuse.

Supply Chain & Package Security

BOINC Server is a widely used open-source platform for volunteer computing projects. This vulnerability does not directly affect package managers like NPM, PyPI, Go, or Ruby, but it impacts the server-side component of the BOINC ecosystem. Organizations using BOINC Server should verify their version and apply the update to version 1.4.3 or later to mitigate the risk.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

The CVSS score is listed as 0.0, which is likely a placeholder or uncalculated value. Based on the vulnerability type (CSRF), a typical CVSS v3.1 vector would be:

• Attack Vector (AV): Network (N)
• Attack Complexity (AC): Low (L)
• Privileges Required (PR): None (N)
• User Interaction (UI): Required (R)
• Scope (S): Unchanged (U)
• Confidentiality (C): Low (L)
• Integrity (I): Low (L)
• Availability (A): None (N)

Estimated CVSS Score: 4.3 (Medium)

Threat Level: Medium – Exploitation requires user interaction, but the impact on integrity and confidentiality is limited.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability exists in the BOINC Server's handling of HTTP requests. A CSRF attack occurs when an attacker crafts a malicious link or form that, when clicked by an authenticated user, performs unintended actions on the server. In this case, the BOINC Server does not implement proper anti-CSRF tokens or origin validation, allowing attackers to forge requests on behalf of the victim.

Attack Scenario:

1. An attacker identifies a BOINC Server instance running version < 1.4.3.
2. The attacker crafts a malicious HTML page or email containing a request to change server settings, add a new project, or modify user permissions.
3. The victim, authenticated to the BOINC Server, visits the malicious page.
4. The victim's browser sends the forged request to the BOINC Server, which processes it as legitimate.
5. The attacker achieves unauthorized actions without the victim's knowledge.

Root Cause: Lack of CSRF protection mechanisms such as synchronizer tokens, SameSite cookies, or origin header validation.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

The vulnerable code likely lacks CSRF token validation in sensitive endpoints. The patched version (1.4.3) introduces anti-CSRF measures.

Vulnerable Code (Example):

// vulnerable.php
if ($_POST['action'] == 'delete_project') {
    $project_id = $_POST['project_id'];
    // No CSRF check
    delete_project($project_id);
}

Patched Code (Example):

// patched.php
session_start();
if ($_POST['action'] == 'delete_project') {
    if (!isset($_POST['csrf_token']) || $_POST['csrf_token'] !== $_SESSION['csrf_token']) {
        die('CSRF validation failed');
    }
    $project_id = $_POST['project_id'];
    delete_project($project_id);
}

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team

Lab Setup:

1. Install BOINC Server version 1.4.2 on a local VM (e.g., Ubuntu 20.04).
2. Create a user account with administrative privileges.
3. Set up a simple web server to host the malicious CSRF page.

Exploitation Steps:

1. Craft an HTML page that automatically submits a form to the BOINC Server:

<html>
<body>
<form action="http://target-boinc-server/delete_project.php" method="POST" id="csrf_form">
    <input type="hidden" name="project_id" value="1">
    <input type="submit" value="Click me">
</form>
<script>document.getElementById('csrf_form').submit();</script>
</body>
</html>

2. Host the page on an attacker-controlled server.
3. Send the link to the victim (e.g., via phishing email).
4. When the victim clicks the link, the form is submitted, and the project is deleted.

Note: No public exploit code is available; this is a conceptual demonstration.

Blue Team

Detection:

• Monitor for unusual POST requests to sensitive endpoints (e.g., /delete_project.php, /update_config.php) without a valid CSRF token.
• Analyze HTTP Referer headers for unexpected origins.
• Use web application firewalls (WAF) to block requests lacking CSRF tokens.

Mitigation:

• Immediately upgrade to BOINC Server version 1.4.3 or later.
• Implement CSRF tokens in all state-changing requests.
• Enforce SameSite cookie attribute (Lax or Strict).
• Validate Origin and Referer headers on the server side.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network: Unusual POST requests to /delete_project.php, /add_user.php, or /modify_config.php without a CSRF token.
• Logs: Server logs showing repeated failed CSRF validation attempts (if patched) or successful unauthorized actions.
• Files: Presence of malicious HTML files on the server (if uploaded by attacker).
• User Behavior: Unexpected changes to server settings or user accounts.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule detect_csrf_boinc {
    meta:
        description = "Detects potential CSRF exploitation attempts against BOINC Server"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        reference = "CVE-2025-0669"
    strings:
        $s1 = "delete_project" nocase
        $s2 = "add_user" nocase
        $s3 = "modify_config" nocase
        $s4 = "csrf_token" nocase
    condition:
        any of ($s1, $s2, $s3) and not $s4
}

Sigma Rule

title: CSRF Exploitation Attempt Against BOINC Server
id: 8a9b3c4d-5e6f-7a8b-9c0d-1e2f3a4b5c6d
status: experimental
description: Detects HTTP POST requests to sensitive BOINC Server endpoints without CSRF token
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
detection:
    selection:
        cs-method: 'POST'
        cs-uri-query|contains:
            - 'delete_project'
            - 'add_user'
            - 'modify_config'
    filter:
        cs-uri-query|contains: 'csrf_token'
    condition: selection and not filter
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate requests with CSRF token
level: high

Suricata Rule

alert http any any -> any any (msg:"CVE-2025-0669 CSRF Attempt Against BOINC Server"; flow:to_server; content:"POST"; http_method; content:"delete_project"; http_uri; nocase; pcre:"/csrf_token/"; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

1. Immediate Action: Upgrade BOINC Server to version 1.4.3 or later.
2. Workaround: If upgrading is not possible, implement a reverse proxy (e.g., Nginx) to add CSRF protection headers or use a WAF to block requests without tokens.
3. Long-term: Ensure all state-changing endpoints validate CSRF tokens. Enforce SameSite cookies and validate Origin/Referer headers.
4. Monitoring: Deploy the provided detection rules to identify potential exploitation attempts.

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