CVE-2022-27157
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2022-27157 is a weak password recovery mechanism vulnerability in pearweb that allows attackers to reset passwords without proper authentication. This affects all pearweb installations before version 1.32. Attackers can potentially compromise user accounts and gain unauthorized access.
💻 Affected Systems
- pearweb
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete account takeover of all users, leading to data theft, privilege escalation, and full system compromise.
Likely Case
Targeted account takeover of specific users, potentially leading to unauthorized access to sensitive data and functionality.
If Mitigated
Limited impact with proper network segmentation and monitoring, but still represents an authentication bypass risk.
🎯 Exploit Status
The vulnerability is in the password recovery mechanism and requires minimal technical skill to exploit.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 1.32
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/pear/pearweb/commit/6447c174a6b4bd76d28ecca8543cbd24bf394f99
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Update pearweb to version 1.32 or later. 2. Replace the vulnerable include/users/passwordmanage.php file with the patched version from the GitHub commit.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable password recovery functionality
linuxTemporarily disable the password recovery feature to prevent exploitation.
# Remove or rename the vulnerable file
mv include/users/passwordmanage.php include/users/passwordmanage.php.disabled
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement network-level controls to restrict access to the password recovery endpoint.
- Enable detailed logging and monitoring for password reset attempts and implement alerting for suspicious activity.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check if pearweb version is below 1.32 and if include/users/passwordmanage.php exists with the vulnerable code.Check Version:
Check pearweb configuration files or documentation for version information.Verify Fix Applied:
Verify pearweb version is 1.32 or higher and that the password recovery mechanism requires proper authentication.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual password reset requests, multiple failed password recovery attempts from single IP, successful password resets without proper authentication
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests to password recovery endpoints with suspicious parameters
SIEM Query:
source="pearweb" AND (url="*passwordmanage.php*" OR event="password_reset")