Zero-day vulnerability in PHPCow

Remote PHP including
CVE-2008-5227

Vulnerability details

Advisory: SB2008111901 - Remote PHP including in PHPCow

Vulnerable component: PHPCow

CVE-ID: CVE-2008-5227

CVSSv3 score: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L/E:F/RL:O/RC:C

CWE-ID: CWE-98 - Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program

Description:

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to execute arbitrary PHP code on the target application.

The weakness exists due to improper validation of input passed via the "skin_file" HTTP parameter to "templateie_install.class.php" script. A remote attacker can send a specially-crafted HTTP request to vulnerable script, specify a malicious file from a remote system and execute arbitrary PHP code on the system.

Successful exploitation of the vulnerability results in arbitrary PHP code execution on the vulnerable application.

Note: the vulnerability was being actively exploited.

External links:

http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/515417



About zero-day vulnerabilities

Zero-day vulnerability is an undisclosed vulnerability in software that hackers can exploit to compromise computer programs, gain unauthorized access to sensitive data, penetrate networks, etc. We consider vulnerability a zero-day when there is no solution provided from software vendor and the vulnerability is being actively exploited by malicious actors.

Zero-day candidate is a potential zero-day vulnerability in software which might have been used in targeted attacks, however there is no evidence to support this suggestion.