This article is a part of our Vulnerability Database (back to index)
Cross-Site Request Forgery occurrences in Data Center Network Manager
A vulnerability in the web-based management interface of Cisco Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to conduct a cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attack on an affected system. The vulnerability is due to insufficient CSRF protections for the web-based management interface on an affected device. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by persuading a user of the interface to follow a malicious link while having an active session on an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to perform arbitrary actions with the privilege level of the targeted user. (2020-02-19, CVE-2020-3114)
A vulnerability in the web-based management interface of Cisco Data Center Network Manager could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to conduct a cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attack and perform arbitrary actions on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to insufficient CSRF protections on the web-based management interface of an affected device. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by persuading a user of the interface to follow a crafted link. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to perform arbitrary actions on a targeted device via a web browser and with the privileges of the user. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvg88291. (2018-03-08, CVE-2018-0210)
Why Cross-Site Request Forgery can be dangerous
The absence of Anti-CSRF tokens may lead to a Cross-Site Request Forgery attack that can result in executing a specific application action as another logged in user, e.g. steal their account by changing their email and password or silently adding a new admin user account when executed from the administrator account.
The attacker may copy one of your web application forms, e.g. email/password change form.
The webpage will contain a form with the exact set of fields as the original application but with input values already provided and the submit button replaced with a Javascript code causing auto-submission. When the page is accessed the form will be immediately submitted and page contents replaced with a valid content or a redirect to your original application.
One of your application users who is already logged in can be then tricked to navigate to such malicious page e.g. by clicking a link in a phishing email, and the pre-populated form content will be submitted to your application like it would be submitted by your user.