Summary
A missing authentication vulnerability in the Session Handler may allow remote attackers to access functionality without proper identity verification by manipulating the user_id argument. The issue becomes risky when the application trusts this user-controlled value instead of requiring a valid authenticated session and authorization check.
A missing authentication vulnerability in the Session Handler may allow remote attackers to access functionality without proper identity verification by manipulating the user_id argument. The issue becomes risky when the application trusts this user-controlled value instead of requiring a valid authenticated session and authorization check.
Affected context
The vulnerability affects the Session Handler functionality in admin/session.php of php-travel-agency-system. It may be present where session or user identity decisions rely on the user_id request parameter without consistently validating an authenticated session and confirming that the requester is authorized to act for the referenced account.
The vulnerability affects the Session Handler functionality in admin/session.php of php-travel-agency-system. It may be present where session or user identity decisions rely on the user_id request parameter without consistently validating an authenticated session and confirming that the requester is authorized to act for the referenced account.
Exploit preconditions
- Attack surface: Remotely accessible web functionality in the Session Handler
- Required access: The ability to send requests to the affected endpoint; valid credentials may not be required
- Trigger point: Processing of the
user_idargument inadmin/session.php - Why exploitation is possible: User-controlled identity data may be accepted without a sufficiently strong authentication and authorization decision
- Attack surface: Remotely accessible web functionality in the Session Handler
- Required access: The ability to send requests to the affected endpoint; valid credentials may not be required
- Trigger point: Processing of the
user_idargument inadmin/session.php - Why exploitation is possible: User-controlled identity data may be accepted without a sufficiently strong authentication and authorization decision
Why this happens
The underlying bug is an authentication-control failure in which the application may treat a supplied user identifier as proof of identity. This maps primarily to CWE-287: Improper Authentication, because the system does not reliably establish that the requester is the claimed user. It is also related to CWE-306: Missing Authentication for Critical Function, where sensitive functionality can be reached without an effective authentication requirement.
The underlying bug is an authentication-control failure in which the application may treat a supplied user identifier as proof of identity. This maps primarily to CWE-287: Improper Authentication, because the system does not reliably establish that the requester is the claimed user. It is also related to CWE-306: Missing Authentication for Critical Function, where sensitive functionality can be reached without an effective authentication requirement.
Potential impact
- An attacker may access protected functionality without valid authentication
- An attacker could impersonate or act on behalf of another user
- Sensitive account or application data may be exposed
- Unauthorized changes to user or administrative state could occur
- The vulnerability can increase the risk of further compromise if privileged functions are reachable
- An attacker may access protected functionality without valid authentication
- An attacker could impersonate or act on behalf of another user
- Sensitive account or application data may be exposed
- Unauthorized changes to user or administrative state could occur
- The vulnerability can increase the risk of further compromise if privileged functions are reachable
General mitigation guidance
Mitigation generally focuses on making authentication and authorization decisions independent of user-supplied identity parameters.
Common defensive patterns include:
- Require a valid authenticated session before processing protected requests
- Derive the effective user identity from trusted server-side session state rather than request parameters
- Enforce object-level authorization for every requested account or resource
- Deny access by default when authentication or authorization checks fail
- Apply least privilege to administrative and session-management functions
- Minimize trust in client-controlled identifiers and validate them against server-side identity context
Mitigation generally focuses on making authentication and authorization decisions independent of user-supplied identity parameters.
Common defensive patterns include:
- Require a valid authenticated session before processing protected requests
- Derive the effective user identity from trusted server-side session state rather than request parameters
- Enforce object-level authorization for every requested account or resource
- Deny access by default when authentication or authorization checks fail
- Apply least privilege to administrative and session-management functions
- Minimize trust in client-controlled identifiers and validate them against server-side identity context
How teams detect issues like this
Organizations commonly detect this class of issue through:
- Static analysis rules for sensitive endpoints that use request parameters as identity sources
- Code review checks ensuring authentication occurs before session or account operations
- Tests that send unauthenticated requests with alternate user identifiers and verify denial
- Authorization policy checks covering both authentication and object ownership
- Monitoring for repeated requests to session-management endpoints with changing identity parameters
Automated security review tools may help identify missing authentication guards and inconsistent authorization paths.
Organizations commonly detect this class of issue through:
- Static analysis rules for sensitive endpoints that use request parameters as identity sources
- Code review checks ensuring authentication occurs before session or account operations
- Tests that send unauthenticated requests with alternate user identifiers and verify denial
- Authorization policy checks covering both authentication and object ownership
- Monitoring for repeated requests to session-management endpoints with changing identity parameters
Automated security review tools may help identify missing authentication guards and inconsistent authorization paths.
Sources
| Source | Link |
|---|---|
| github. | github.com/ |
| github. | github.com/ |
| vuldb. | vuldb.com/ |
| vuldb. | vuldb.com/ |
| vuldb. | vuldb.com/ |
| vuldb. | vuldb.com/ |
