CVE-2023-40278
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability in OpenClinic GA allows attackers to determine whether specific appointments exist by manipulating the AppointmentUid parameter in the printAppointmentPdf.jsp component. The system reveals appointment existence through error message differences, enabling information disclosure. This affects all users of OpenClinic GA version 5.247.01.
💻 Affected Systems
- OpenClinic GA
📦 What is this software?
Openclinic Ga by Openclinic Ga Project
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers could map all appointment records, potentially identifying patient schedules, treatment patterns, or sensitive medical visit information, leading to privacy violations and targeted attacks.
Likely Case
Attackers enumerate appointment IDs to discover active appointments, potentially identifying patient visit patterns or testing for specific individuals' medical appointments.
If Mitigated
With proper error handling and access controls, impact is limited to unsuccessful enumeration attempts with no useful information disclosure.
🎯 Exploit Status
Simple parameter manipulation with predictable error responses makes exploitation trivial.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Unknown
Vendor Advisory: https://sourceforge.net/projects/open-clinic/
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
No official patch available. Monitor OpenClinic project updates for security fixes.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Implement Uniform Error Responses
allModify printAppointmentPdf.jsp to return identical error messages regardless of appointment existence
Edit printAppointmentPdf.jsp to standardize error responses
Access Control Enhancement
allAdd authentication/authorization checks before processing appointment requests
Implement session validation in printAppointmentPdf.jsp
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement web application firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block parameter manipulation attempts
- Restrict access to printAppointmentPdf.jsp to authenticated users only via network controls
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Test by accessing printAppointmentPdf.jsp with valid and invalid AppointmentUid parameters and compare error messagesCheck Version:
Check OpenClinic GA version in administration interface or configuration filesVerify Fix Applied:
Verify that both valid and invalid AppointmentUid values return identical error responses📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Multiple failed requests to printAppointmentPdf.jsp with sequential AppointmentUid values
- Unusual parameter manipulation patterns in access logs
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests to printAppointmentPdf.jsp with manipulated AppointmentUid parameters
SIEM Query:
source="web_logs" AND uri="*printAppointmentPdf.jsp*" AND (param="AppointmentUid" OR query_contains="AppointmentUid")🔗 References
- https://github.com/BugBountyHunterCVE/CVE-2023-40278/blob/main/CVE-2023-40278_Information-Disclosure_OpenClinic-GA_5.247.01_Report.md
- https://sourceforge.net/projects/open-clinic/
- https://github.com/BugBountyHunterCVE/CVE-2023-40278/blob/main/CVE-2023-40278_Information-Disclosure_OpenClinic-GA_5.247.01_Report.md
- https://sourceforge.net/projects/open-clinic/
