CVE-2018-25190 Overview
CVE-2018-25190 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability affecting Easyndexer 1.0. The vulnerability allows unauthenticated attackers to create administrative accounts by submitting forged POST requests. Attackers can craft malicious web pages that submit POST requests to createuser.php with parameters including username, password, name, surname, and privileges set to 1 for administrator access.
Critical Impact
Unauthenticated attackers can create administrative accounts through CSRF attacks, potentially leading to complete application takeover and unauthorized access to sensitive data.
Affected Products
- Easyndexer 1.0
Discovery Timeline
- 2026-03-06 - CVE CVE-2018-25190 published to NVD
- 2026-03-09 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2018-25190
Vulnerability Analysis
This vulnerability is classified as CWE-352 (Cross-Site Request Forgery). The root cause lies in the lack of CSRF token validation in the createuser.php endpoint of Easyndexer 1.0. When a legitimate administrator browses a malicious webpage while authenticated to the Easyndexer application, the attacker-controlled page can silently submit a POST request to the createuser.php endpoint. Because the application does not verify that the request originated from a legitimate form submission, the request is processed as if it came from the authenticated administrator.
The attack is network-based and requires no authentication on the attacker's part. However, social engineering is necessary to trick an authenticated administrator into visiting the malicious page. Once successful, the attacker gains administrator-level access to the Easyndexer application.
Root Cause
The createuser.php endpoint in Easyndexer 1.0 does not implement anti-CSRF protections such as CSRF tokens, same-site cookie attributes, or request origin verification. This allows cross-origin requests from attacker-controlled websites to be accepted and processed by the application as legitimate administrator actions.
Attack Vector
The attack requires an attacker to craft a malicious HTML page containing a form that auto-submits a POST request to the target Easyndexer instance's createuser.php endpoint. The attacker must then convince an authenticated administrator to visit this malicious page. When the administrator's browser loads the page, JavaScript automatically submits the form, creating a new administrative account with attacker-controlled credentials.
The vulnerability mechanism involves forging POST requests to createuser.php with the following parameters: username, password, name, surname, and privileges=1 for administrator access. Technical details are available in the Exploit-DB #45815 entry and the VulnCheck Advisory.
Detection Methods for CVE-2018-25190
Indicators of Compromise
- Unexpected administrative user accounts appearing in the Easyndexer user database
- Access logs showing POST requests to createuser.php with external or suspicious referrer headers
- Multiple user creation events occurring in rapid succession or outside normal business hours
Detection Strategies
- Monitor web server access logs for POST requests to createuser.php with missing or external Referer headers
- Implement alerts for new administrator account creation events in Easyndexer
- Audit existing user accounts regularly to identify unauthorized administrative accounts
Monitoring Recommendations
- Enable detailed access logging on web servers hosting Easyndexer
- Configure SIEM alerts for user creation events in the application
- Monitor for anomalous referrer patterns in requests to sensitive endpoints
How to Mitigate CVE-2018-25190
Immediate Actions Required
- Restrict access to createuser.php to trusted internal networks only
- Implement IP-based access controls for administrative functions
- Audit existing user accounts and remove any unauthorized administrative accounts
- Consider taking Easyndexer offline until proper CSRF protections can be implemented
Patch Information
No vendor patch information is available in the CVE data. Organizations using Easyndexer 1.0 should consider implementing compensating controls or migrating to alternative software with proper CSRF protections. For additional technical details, refer to the VulnCheck Advisory.
Workarounds
- Implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule to validate Referer headers on requests to createuser.php
- Add SameSite cookie attributes to session cookies to prevent cross-site request forgery
- Implement custom CSRF token validation at the web server or reverse proxy level if source code modification is not possible
- Restrict administrative functions to specific IP addresses or VPN connections
# Example: Apache .htaccess to restrict createuser.php access
<Files "createuser.php">
Require ip 10.0.0.0/8
Require ip 192.168.0.0/16
</Files>
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
