CVE-2020-24876
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2020-24876 is a critical vulnerability in Pancake versions before 4.13.29 where a hard-coded cryptographic key allows attackers to forge session cookies. This enables remote privilege escalation by impersonating legitimate users, including administrators. All organizations running vulnerable Pancake versions are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- Pancake
📦 What is this software?
Pancake by Pancakeapp
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete system compromise where an attacker gains administrative access, leading to data theft, unauthorized configuration changes, or full control of the Pancake application.
Likely Case
Account takeover of regular users or administrators, allowing unauthorized access to sensitive business data and functionality.
If Mitigated
Limited impact if proper network segmentation and monitoring are in place, though authentication bypass remains possible.
🎯 Exploit Status
The hard-coded key is publicly known, making exploitation straightforward for attackers with basic technical skills.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 4.13.29
Vendor Advisory: https://www.pancakeapp.com/blog/entry/pancake-4.13.29-released
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Backup your Pancake installation and database. 2. Download Pancake 4.13.29 or later from the official website. 3. Replace all files with the new version. 4. Clear browser cookies and session data. 5. Verify the update was successful.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Session Key Regeneration
allManually regenerate the session encryption key to invalidate existing forged cookies
php artisan key:generate
php artisan config:clear
php artisan cache:clear
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict network access controls to limit Pancake access to trusted IP addresses only.
- Deploy a web application firewall (WAF) with rules to detect and block session cookie manipulation attempts.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check the Pancake version in the admin panel or by examining the application files. Versions below 4.13.29 are vulnerable.Check Version:
Check the version.php file in the Pancake installation directory or view the admin dashboard.Verify Fix Applied:
Confirm the Pancake version is 4.13.29 or higher and test that session cookies are properly validated and cannot be forged.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Multiple failed login attempts followed by successful login from unusual locations
- Session IDs that don't match expected patterns or appear forged
Network Indicators:
- Unusual spikes in authentication requests
- Requests with manipulated cookie headers
SIEM Query:
source="pancake_logs" AND (event="authentication" AND result="success" AND src_ip NOT IN trusted_ips) OR (cookie="*session*" AND length(cookie_value) > expected_length)