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CVE-2018-9845: Etherpad Lite: Improper Handling of Case Sensitivity

CVE-2018-9845 is rated critical with a CVSS v3.0 base score of 9.8 and affects Etherpad Lite. Per its scoring, it can be exploited over the network, without authentication, without any user interaction. The scored impact on confidentiality, integrity and availability is the highest available.

Vulnerability description

Etherpad Lite before 1.6.4 is exploitable for admin access.

Severity breakdown

CVSS v3.0 9.8: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

• Attack vector: Network. Exploitable remotely over the network, with no need for local or physical access.
• Attack complexity: Low. No special conditions; the attack can be repeated reliably.
• Privileges required: None. No account or prior access is needed.
• User interaction: None. No action from any user is needed.
• Scope: Unchanged. Impact stays within the vulnerable component.
• Confidentiality impact: High. Total loss of confidentiality; sensitive data can be fully disclosed.
• Integrity impact: High. Total loss of integrity; data or system state can be fully modified.
• Availability impact: High. Total loss of availability; the component can be shut down.

Underlying weakness

CWE-178: Improper Handling of Case Sensitivity

The product does not properly account for differences in case sensitivity when accessing or determining the properties of a resource, leading to inconsistent results.

Affected products

• Etherpad Lite: before 1.6.4

References

• https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite/commit/ffe24c3dd93efc73e0cbf924db9a0cc40be9511b
• https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite/blob/develop/CHANGELOG.md