CVE-2023-40758
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability in PHPJabbers Document Creator v1.0 allows attackers to enumerate valid user accounts through the password recovery feature. By observing differences in system responses, attackers can identify which users exist, enabling targeted brute force attacks. Organizations using this software are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- PHPJabbers Document Creator
📦 What is this software?
Document Creator by Phpjabbers
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers enumerate all valid users and conduct successful credential stuffing or brute force attacks, leading to unauthorized access to multiple accounts and potential data breaches.
Likely Case
Attackers identify valid user accounts and conduct targeted password attacks against those accounts, potentially compromising some user credentials.
If Mitigated
With proper monitoring and rate limiting, enumeration attempts are detected and blocked, limiting the attacker's ability to gather valid usernames.
🎯 Exploit Status
The vulnerability is simple to exploit by comparing password recovery response messages.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Unknown
Vendor Advisory: https://www.phpjabbers.com/document-creator/
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
Check vendor website for updates. If no patch is available, implement workarounds or consider alternative software.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Standardize Password Recovery Responses
allModify the password recovery functionality to return identical responses regardless of whether the user exists or not.
Edit PHP files handling password recovery to standardize error messages
Implement Rate Limiting
allAdd rate limiting to password recovery requests to prevent automated enumeration.
Configure web server or application rate limiting for password recovery endpoints
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement network-level rate limiting for password recovery endpoints
- Monitor logs for unusual patterns of password recovery requests
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Test password recovery with valid and invalid usernames. If responses differ, the system is vulnerable.Check Version:
Check application version in admin panel or configuration filesVerify Fix Applied:
After implementing fixes, test password recovery with both valid and invalid usernames to ensure identical responses.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Multiple failed password recovery attempts from single IP
- Patterns of sequential username attempts
Network Indicators:
- Unusual volume of POST requests to password recovery endpoint
SIEM Query:
source="web_logs" AND uri="/password-recovery" AND count by src_ip > 10