CVE-2021-25970
📋 TL;DR
Camaleon CMS versions 0.1.7 through 2.6.0 have an authentication flaw where user sessions remain active even after password changes. This allows previously logged-in users to maintain access to the application after their credentials have been updated, affecting all users of vulnerable installations.
💻 Affected Systems
- Camaleon CMS
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Former employees or compromised accounts maintain persistent access to sensitive CMS content and administrative functions despite credential changes, potentially leading to data theft, content manipulation, or privilege escalation.
Likely Case
Unauthorized users retain access to user accounts after password resets, allowing continued misuse of legitimate accounts for content access or modification.
If Mitigated
With proper session management controls, users would be automatically logged out upon password changes, limiting access to only current valid credentials.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires initial authentication but is trivial once a user is logged in. The vulnerability is inherent to session management logic.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 2.6.1 and later
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/owen2345/camaleon-cms/commit/77e31bc6cdde7c951fba104aebcd5ebb3f02b030
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Update Camaleon CMS to version 2.6.1 or later. 2. Apply the patch from the GitHub commit. 3. No server restart required for the fix to take effect.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Manual Session Invalidation
allManually invalidate all active sessions after password changes by clearing session storage or implementing custom session termination logic.
# Requires custom implementation based on your session storage method
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement external session management that invalidates sessions upon password changes.
- Enforce shorter session timeouts and require re-authentication for sensitive operations.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Camaleon CMS version. If between 0.1.7 and 2.6.0 inclusive, the system is vulnerable.Check Version:
Check the Camaleon CMS version in the application's admin panel or configuration files.Verify Fix Applied:
After updating to 2.6.1+, test that changing a user's password immediately invalidates their active session.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Multiple successful logins from same user after password change events
- Session persistence beyond password reset timestamps
Network Indicators:
- Sustained authenticated traffic from users whose passwords were recently changed
SIEM Query:
Authentication logs where user session continues after password_change event🔗 References
- https://github.com/owen2345/camaleon-cms/commit/77e31bc6cdde7c951fba104aebcd5ebb3f02b030
- https://www.whitesourcesoftware.com/vulnerability-database/CVE-2021-25970
- https://github.com/owen2345/camaleon-cms/commit/77e31bc6cdde7c951fba104aebcd5ebb3f02b030
- https://www.whitesourcesoftware.com/vulnerability-database/CVE-2021-25970
