CVE-2020-18264
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2020-18264 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery vulnerability in Simple-Log v1.6 that allows attackers to trick authenticated administrators into performing unauthorized actions. This can lead to privilege escalation and arbitrary code execution via the admin.php endpoint. Organizations using Simple-Log v1.6 for logging or administration are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- Simple-Log
📦 What is this software?
Simple Log by Simple Log Project
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete system compromise through remote code execution, data theft, and persistent backdoor installation.
Likely Case
Administrator account takeover leading to unauthorized configuration changes and data manipulation.
If Mitigated
Failed exploitation attempts logged with no impact due to CSRF protections.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires tricking an authenticated administrator into visiting a malicious page while logged in.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Unknown
Vendor Advisory: No official vendor advisory found
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Check for updated version from Simple-Log repository
2. Apply CSRF protection tokens to admin.php
3. Validate all admin actions require proper authentication
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Implement CSRF Protection
allAdd CSRF tokens to all admin forms and validate them server-side
Edit admin.php to include CSRF token generation and validation
Restrict Admin Access
allLimit access to admin.php to specific IP addresses or networks
Add .htaccess rules or web server configuration to restrict /admin/ directory
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement web application firewall with CSRF protection rules
- Require re-authentication for sensitive admin actions
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check if Simple-Log v1.6 is installed and admin.php lacks CSRF token validationCheck Version:
Check Simple-Log version in configuration files or admin interfaceVerify Fix Applied:
Test admin forms to ensure they include and validate CSRF tokens📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Multiple failed admin actions from same session
- Admin actions without proper referrer headers
Network Indicators:
- POST requests to admin.php without CSRF tokens
- Suspicious referrer URLs in admin requests
SIEM Query:
source="web_logs" AND uri="/admin/admin.php" AND (NOT csrf_token=*)