Advisories

LimeSurvey Password Reset Host Header Injection Discloses Reset Token

Go Back
severity
high
date
Affecting
  • LimeSurvey <= 7.0

CWE
  • CWE-640 Weak Password Recovery Mechanism for Forgotten Password
CVSS
8.7
CVSS V4 Vector
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Credit
McCaulay Hudson (@_McCaulay) of watchTowr
Description
LimeSurvey constructs account password-reset links from the client-supplied HTTP Host header without validating it. The optional allowedHosts allowlist that would constrain this is undefined in the default (and documented) configuration, so LSHttpRequest::checkIsAllowedHost() results in no operation. A remote, unauthenticated attacker who submits a forgotten-password request for a known account (requiring only the target's username and email) with a spoofed Host header causes LimeSurvey to email that account a reset link whose hostname is attacker-controlled while embedding the genuine validation_key. When the recipient or an automated inbound mail-security link scanner dereferences the link, the valid reset token is disclosed to the attacker, who replays it against the legitimate host's newPassword endpoint to set a new password and take over the account.

Ready to get Started?

Explore VulnCheck, a next-generation Cyber Threat Intelligence platform, which provides exploit and vulnerability intelligence to help you prioritize and remediate vulnerabilities that matter.
  • Vulnerability Prioritization
    Prioritize vulnerabilities that matter based on the threat landscape and defer vulnerabilities that don't.
  • Early Warning System
    Real-time alerting of changes in the vulnerability landscape so that you can take action before the attacks start.