CVE-2020-14017
📋 TL;DR
Navigate CMS 2.9 r1433 stores session data in cleartext files in /private/sessions directory, allowing unauthenticated attackers to brute-force or directly view active sessions. This exposes CSRF tokens and session details, potentially enabling session hijacking or CSRF attacks. All Navigate CMS installations using the vulnerable version are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- Navigate CMS
📦 What is this software?
Navigate Cms by Naviwebs
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers hijack administrator sessions, gain full control of CMS, deface websites, steal sensitive data, or install malware.
Likely Case
Attackers hijack user sessions to impersonate legitimate users, perform unauthorized actions, or bypass authentication.
If Mitigated
With proper access controls and monitoring, impact limited to session disruption or temporary access issues.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires directory traversal or file read access to /private/sessions; trivial if web server misconfigured to serve directory contents.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Navigate CMS 2.9 r1434 or later
Vendor Advisory: https://blog.sean-wright.com/navigate-cms/
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Backup current installation. 2. Download latest Navigate CMS version. 3. Replace vulnerable files with patched version. 4. Restart web server. 5. Verify session storage uses secure mechanism.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Restrict directory access
allConfigure web server to deny access to /private/sessions directory
For Apache: add 'Deny from all' to .htaccess in /private/sessions
For Nginx: add 'location /private/sessions { deny all; }' to site config
Move session storage
allChange session storage location to database or encrypted files outside web root
Modify Navigate CMS configuration to use database sessions or move session files to non-web-accessible directory
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict access controls on /private/sessions directory using web server configuration
- Monitor file access attempts to /private/sessions and implement intrusion detection
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check if /private/sessions directory exists and contains cleartext session files; attempt to access http://[site]/private/sessions/Check Version:
Check Navigate CMS admin panel or version file in installation directoryVerify Fix Applied:
Verify session files are no longer stored in cleartext or /private/sessions directory is inaccessible; check Navigate CMS version is 2.9 r1434+📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Multiple 403/404 errors for /private/sessions/* paths
- Unusual file access patterns to session directory
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests to /private/sessions/* from untrusted sources
- Brute-force patterns targeting session files
SIEM Query:
source="web_logs" AND (uri_path="/private/sessions/*" OR user_agent CONTAINS "dirbuster" OR "gobuster")