CVE-2023-49443
📋 TL;DR
DoraCMS v2.1.8 has a critical authentication vulnerability where the same verification code is reused for both username and password validation. This allows attackers to bypass authentication through brute-force attacks, potentially compromising any system running this vulnerable version.
💻 Affected Systems
- DoraCMS
📦 What is this software?
Doracms by Html Js
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete system takeover with administrative privileges, data exfiltration, and potential lateral movement to other systems.
Likely Case
Unauthorized access to user accounts, data theft, and potential privilege escalation within the application.
If Mitigated
Limited impact with proper rate limiting and monitoring, but authentication bypass remains possible.
🎯 Exploit Status
Attack requires no authentication and can be automated with simple brute-force tools.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Unknown
Vendor Advisory: Not available
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
Upgrade to a patched version if available, or implement custom fixes to separate username and password verification logic.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Implement Rate Limiting
allAdd rate limiting on authentication endpoints to prevent brute-force attacks
# Configure web server rate limiting (nginx example)
limit_req_zone $binary_remote_addr zone=auth:10m rate=5r/m;
limit_req zone=auth burst=10 nodelay;
Add CAPTCHA to Login
allImplement CAPTCHA verification on login attempts to prevent automated attacks
# Implement in application code
# Add CAPTCHA validation before authentication logic
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement network-level controls like WAF rules to block excessive authentication attempts
- Enable detailed logging and monitoring of all authentication attempts
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Review source code to check if username and password verification use the same code path or shared validation logicCheck Version:
Check package.json or application configuration for version informationVerify Fix Applied:
Test authentication with brute-force tools to confirm rate limiting works and verification codes are not reused📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Multiple failed login attempts from same IP
- Successful logins after many failures
- Unusual authentication patterns
Network Indicators:
- High volume of POST requests to login endpoints
- Patterned authentication attempts
SIEM Query:
source="web_logs" AND (url_path="/login" OR url_path="/auth") AND status=401 | stats count by src_ip | where count > 10