CVE-2024-5960: Elizsoftware Panel Password Vulnerability

CVE-2024-5960 Overview

CVE-2024-5960 is a critical Plaintext Storage of a Password vulnerability in Eliz Software Panel that enables attackers to leverage known domain credentials for unauthorized access. This vulnerability (CWE-256) stems from improper handling of sensitive credential data, where passwords are stored in cleartext rather than using secure hashing or encryption mechanisms. An attacker who gains access to the storage location can immediately retrieve valid credentials and use them to compromise user accounts and potentially the entire system.

Critical Impact

Attackers can retrieve plaintext passwords from Eliz Software Panel, enabling complete account takeover and unauthorized access to systems protected by compromised credentials.

Affected Products

• Eliz Software Panel versions prior to v2.3.24

Discovery Timeline

• 2024-09-18 - CVE CVE-2024-5960 published to NVD
• 2025-09-12 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-5960

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability affects Eliz Software Panel, a web-based administration interface. The core issue lies in the application's credential management implementation, which stores user passwords in plaintext format rather than employing industry-standard cryptographic hashing algorithms (such as bcrypt, Argon2, or PBKDF2). This fundamental security flaw violates secure coding principles and exposes all stored credentials to immediate compromise.

When passwords are stored in plaintext, any attacker who gains read access to the credential storage mechanism—whether through SQL injection, file inclusion vulnerabilities, backup file exposure, or insider access—can immediately use those credentials without requiring any computational effort to crack password hashes. This dramatically reduces the barrier to exploitation.

Root Cause

The root cause is a classic CWE-256 (Plaintext Storage of a Password) vulnerability where the application developers failed to implement proper password hashing before storing credentials. Instead of using one-way cryptographic hash functions with appropriate salting and work factors, the Panel application writes passwords directly to storage in their original form. This design flaw indicates a fundamental misunderstanding of secure credential management practices.

Attack Vector

The vulnerability is exploitable over the network without requiring authentication or user interaction. An attacker can exploit this vulnerability through several scenarios:

1. Direct Database Access: If an attacker compromises the database through SQL injection or misconfiguration, they obtain immediate access to all plaintext passwords.

2. File System Access: If credentials are stored in configuration files or flat files, any file read vulnerability (LFI, path traversal) exposes the passwords.

3. Backup Exploitation: Database or file backups containing the plaintext passwords can be exfiltrated and examined offline.

4. Privilege Escalation: A low-privileged attacker on the system may escalate privileges by reading credential storage locations.

Once credentials are obtained, attackers can perform account takeover, lateral movement to other systems where users have reused passwords, and complete compromise of the Panel's administrative functions.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-5960

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual database queries targeting user credential tables or password fields
• Unexpected file access to configuration files or credential storage locations
• Multiple failed login attempts followed by successful authentication from different source IPs
• Unauthorized administrative actions performed using legitimate user credentials

Detection Strategies

• Monitor database access patterns for bulk credential extraction attempts
• Implement file integrity monitoring on configuration and credential storage files
• Deploy network intrusion detection rules to identify exfiltration of credential data
• Review authentication logs for anomalous login patterns indicating credential reuse

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable detailed audit logging for all Panel administrative functions
• Configure alerts for database queries accessing password columns
• Monitor for lateral movement attempts using credentials that match Panel users
• Implement behavioral analytics to detect account takeover scenarios

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-5960

Immediate Actions Required

• Upgrade Eliz Software Panel to version v2.3.24 or later immediately
• Force password resets for all users after upgrading to ensure old plaintext passwords are replaced with properly hashed versions
• Audit access logs to determine if credential storage was accessed by unauthorized parties
• Notify affected users to change passwords on any other services where they may have reused the same credentials

Patch Information

The vendor has addressed this vulnerability in Eliz Software Panel version v2.3.24. Organizations should upgrade to this version or later to remediate the plaintext password storage issue. Additional technical details are available in the USOM Security Notification.

Workarounds

• Restrict network access to the Panel to trusted IP ranges only until patching is complete
• Implement additional authentication layers (MFA) to reduce the impact of credential compromise
• Place the Panel behind a reverse proxy with Web Application Firewall (WAF) capabilities
• Isolate the database server and restrict direct access to administrative networks only
• Conduct regular security audits of credential storage mechanisms across all applications