CVE-2023-40173
📋 TL;DR
Social Media Skeleton versions before 1.0.5 do not properly salt password hashes, making stored passwords vulnerable to cracking if attackers obtain the hashed values. This affects all users of vulnerable versions who rely on the software's authentication system. The vulnerability allows attackers to potentially recover plaintext passwords from stolen password hashes.
💻 Affected Systems
- Social Media Skeleton
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers gain access to password database and crack all user passwords, leading to account takeovers, credential reuse attacks, and complete system compromise.
Likely Case
If password hashes are exposed through other vulnerabilities or data breaches, attackers can efficiently crack weak passwords using rainbow tables or brute force.
If Mitigated
With proper salting, even if hashes are stolen, cracking becomes computationally infeasible for properly implemented password hashing.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires access to password hashes through other means (database breach, file disclosure). Once hashes are obtained, cracking is straightforward due to lack of salting.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 1.0.5
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/fobybus/social-media-skeleton/security/advisories/GHSA-rfmv-7m7g-v628
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Backup your current installation and database. 2. Download version 1.0.5 from GitHub. 3. Replace all files with the new version. 4. Existing users will need to reset passwords to benefit from proper salting.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Force password resets for all users to generate properly salted hashes
- Implement additional authentication layers like 2FA
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check if version is below 1.0.5 by examining version files or checking the software's about/version page.Check Version:
Check the version.txt file or look for version information in the main application files.Verify Fix Applied:
Verify installation is version 1.0.5 or higher and check that new password hashes include salt values in the database.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual database access patterns
- Multiple failed login attempts followed by successful logins
Network Indicators:
- Unexpected database export traffic
- Unusual access to authentication endpoints
SIEM Query:
source="web_logs" AND (uri="/login" OR uri="/auth") AND status=200 AND user_agent CONTAINS "sqlmap" OR "hydra"🔗 References
- https://github.com/fobybus/social-media-skeleton/commit/344d798e82d6cc39844962c6d3cb2560f5907848
- https://github.com/fobybus/social-media-skeleton/commit/df31da44ffed3ea065cbbadc3c8052d0d489a2ef
- https://github.com/fobybus/social-media-skeleton/security/advisories/GHSA-rfmv-7m7g-v628
- https://github.com/fobybus/social-media-skeleton/commit/344d798e82d6cc39844962c6d3cb2560f5907848
- https://github.com/fobybus/social-media-skeleton/commit/df31da44ffed3ea065cbbadc3c8052d0d489a2ef
- https://github.com/fobybus/social-media-skeleton/security/advisories/GHSA-rfmv-7m7g-v628
