Hospital Management System: Session Fixation
CVE-2023-31498 is a critical-severity session fixation vulnerability in Hospital Management System from PHPGurukul, with a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8 out of 10. It can be exploited remotely over the network by an unauthenticated attacker, without any action from a user. Affected Hospital Management System versions: 4.0. The record does not name a fixed version, so check the vendor advisory. There is no confirmed exploitation so far. EPSS estimates a 2.13% chance of exploitation within 30 days, higher than 82% of scored CVEs.
Critical severity: a successful attack would have severe impact.
What to do
- Check which version of Hospital Management System you run against the affected versions below, and install the vendor's latest release.
- Until you can update, restrict network access to the affected service so it is not reachable from untrusted networks.
Affected products and versions
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| PHPGurukul | Hospital Management System | 4.0 | Not stated |
Version data comes from NVD's product matching. Confirm against the vendor advisory before deciding you are unaffected.
How the severity score breaks down
- Attack vector
- NetworkCan be exploited remotely over a network, including the internet.
- Attack complexity
- LowNo special conditions are needed; the attack works reliably.
- Privileges required
- NoneNo account or login is needed.
- User interaction
- NoneNo action by a victim is required.
- Scope
- UnchangedImpact stays within the vulnerable component.
- Confidentiality
- HighAll data handled by the component can be read.
- Integrity
- HighData or code can be modified at will.
- Availability
- HighThe component can be taken down completely.
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H. Scored by NVD.
| Scoring system | Score | Severity | Scored by |
|---|---|---|---|
| CVSS 3.1 | 9.8 | Critical | NVD |
| CVSS 3.1 | 9.8 | Critical | CISA (ADP) |
Official description
A privilege escalation issue was found in PHP Gurukul Hospital Management System In v.4.0 allows a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code and access sensitive information via the session token parameter.
Source: the CVE record as published by its numbering authority, via NVD and CVE.org.
The underlying weakness: Session Fixation
Authenticating a user, or otherwise establishing a new user session, without invalidating any existing session identifier gives an attacker the opportunity to steal authenticated sessions.
How developers prevent this class of flaw
- Invalidate any existing session identifiers prior to authorizing a new user session.
- For platforms such as ASP that do not generate new values for sessionid cookies, utilize a secondary cookie. In this approach, set a secondary cookie on the user's browser to a random value and set a session variable to the same value. If the session variable and the cookie value ever don't match, invalidate the session, and force the user to log on again.
- Use an application firewall that can detect attacks against this weakness. It can be beneficial in cases in which the code cannot be fixed (because it is controlled by a third party), as an emergency prevention measure while more comprehensive software assurance measures are applied, or to provide defense in depth.
Timeline
- CVE record published.
- CISA published its SSVC assessment (exploitation: poc, automatable: yes, technical impact: total).
- Record last changed materially (score, affected products, status or references).
References
Patches and release notes
- gist.github.com/captain-noob/aff11542477ddd0a92ad8b94ec75f832Exploit, Mitigation, Third Party Advisory
Other references
- github.com/captain-noobNot Applicable
- twitter.com/captain__noobNot Applicable
Other vulnerabilities in Hospital Management System
- 8.8 High severity
- 7.2 High severity
- 7.2 High severity
- 8.8 High severity
- 9.8 Critical severity
- 9.8 Critical severity
Recent Session Fixation vulnerabilities
- 9.8 Critical severity
- 8.1 High severity
- 9.1 Critical severity
- 7.5 High severity
- 8.8 High severity
- 9.8 Critical severity
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