The Silent Threat: Uncovering IDOR Vulnerabilities Before They’re Exploited (PoC)

Greetings, readers! I am Maulik Goti, a Security Analyst👨‍💻.

First, we understand this Vulnerability……

An IDOR vulnerability occurs when an application exposes direct references to internal objects, such as database records, files, or URLs, without proper access controls. These references are typically manipulated through parameters or identifiers in requests, allowing attackers to access unauthorized data or perform actions beyond their privileges.

Attackers exploit IDOR vulnerabilities by tampering with object references in requests, bypassing authentication and authorization mechanisms. This can lead to unauthorized access to sensitive information, such as personal user data, financial records, or proprietary information. IDOR vulnerabilities are often introduced due to inadequate input validation and insufficient authorization checks.

Data Breaches: Attackers can access sensitive user data, such as personally identifiable information (PII), financial records, or confidential documents, leading to data breaches. This can result in legal and financial repercussions for the organization, including regulatory fines and loss of customer trust.
Privilege Escalation: IDOR vulnerabilities can allow attackers to escalate their privileges within the application, gaining access to administrative functionalities or sensitive backend resources. This can lead to further compromise of the system and unauthorized manipulation of critical data.
Data Manipulation: Attackers may modify or delete data stored in the application’s database, leading to data corruption or loss. This can disrupt business operations, compromise data integrity, and undermine the reliability of the application.
Account Takeover: By exploiting IDOR vulnerabilities, attackers can hijack user accounts, gaining unauthorized access to sensitive user profiles, credentials, or session tokens. This can lead to identity theft, fraud, and misuse of user accounts for malicious purposes.
Reputation Damage: Public disclosure of IDOR vulnerabilities can tarnish the reputation of the organization, eroding customer trust and confidence in the security of the application. This can have long-term consequences, impacting customer retention and brand loyalty.

Overall, IDOR vulnerabilities represent a significant security risk for organizations, emphasizing the importance of implementing robust access controls, input validation mechanisms, and security best practices to mitigate these threats effectively. Regular security assessments and proactive vulnerability management are essential for identifying and remedying IDOR vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by malicious actors.

Note: The vulnerability I found is in the application which is confidential, hence I have hidden it from the scope of testing.

Let`s start step by step to cover the vulnerability ………

While surfing the target application, I came across the “check eligibility” button. I knew to check the eligibility of whoever, the server must check for the value that is unique to that entity. It was clear that IDOR can be performed here if the unique value travels in the request body openly.

Step 1: I clicked on the “check eligibility” button and captured the request using a proxy tool like Burp.

Step 2: As you can see in the following screenshot, a userId parameter travels in the request body. This parameter value is unique to each user and is used to check the eligibility of the user.

Step 3: I changed the userId parameter value from “200005536” to “200019131”. And as you can see, I can see the details of the “200019131” user.

OWASP Category: A01:2021 — Broken Access Control

Vulnerability Severity: Medium

Mitigating Insecure Direct Object Reference (IDOR) vulnerabilities is essential for protecting sensitive data and resources within an application. To achieve this, organizations should implement access controls to restrict user access to authorized resources based on predefined roles and permissions. This ensures that only users with the necessary privileges can access specific data or functionalities, reducing the risk of unauthorized access and data breaches.

In addition to access controls, validating and sanitizing user input is crucial for preventing injection attacks, such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting (XSS), which could be used to exploit IDOR vulnerabilities. By validating and sanitizing input data, organizations can ensure that only safe and expected data is processed by the application, mitigating the risk of injection attacks and protecting against unauthorized access to sensitive resources.

Moreover, utilizing cryptographic techniques, such as encryption and hashing, adds an extra layer of security by protecting sensitive data and object references from unauthorized access and tampering. By encrypting sensitive data and hashing object references, organizations can make it more difficult for attackers to intercept or manipulate data, thereby reducing the likelihood of IDOR vulnerabilities being exploited.

In summary, mitigating IDOR vulnerabilities requires a multi-faceted approach that includes implementing access controls, validating input, utilizing cryptography, conducting regular code reviews and security testing, and educating developers and stakeholders. By taking these steps, organizations can significantly reduce the risk of IDOR vulnerabilities and enhance the overall security of their applications.

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Happy Hacking~