Vulnerability Note VU#131828

NotifyLink web client fails to adequately restrict access to administrative functions

Overview

The NotifyLink web interface contains a vulnerability that allows authenticated normal users to access functions that have been disabled by an administrator.

I. Description

Notify Technology NotifyLink Enterprise Server allows users to synchronize e-mail between a PDA and a mail server. The application consists of a PDA-specific client and the NotifyLink server, which acts as a proxy between the client and the mail server(s) the user wants to check. For each e-mail account to be monitored, the user provides mail server credentials that are stored on the NotifyLink server and used to periodically check for mail. When new mail arrives, the NotifyLink server stores a reference to the message ID. Depending on the configuration, the message is either sent to the device via SMS ("Push" mode), or the device periodically checks a link on the NotifyLink web server to retrieve the message ("Poll" mode). The product supports multiple PDA platforms and multiple e-mail servers, including IMAP, POP, Microsoft Exchange, and Novell GroupWise.

The NotifyLink web interface allows administrative users to restrict ordinary users from accessing certain functions. When such a restriction is in place, the button for the function is disabled in the user's presentation of the interface. An attacker can bypass this restriction by altering the URL they present to the server and accessing the restricted functionality directly.

II. Impact

This vulnerability allows authenticated normal users to access functions that have been disabled by an administrator.

III. Solution

Upgrade or Patch

This issue is resolved in NotifyLink 3.0. Starting with this version, authentication of the user is performed on each feature page.

Systems Affected

Vendor	Status	Date Notified	Date Updated
Notify Technology	Vulnerable	4-May-2004

References

http://notifylink.notify.net
http://secunia.com/advisories/14617/
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/12843

Credit

We thank the NOAA NCIRT Lab for their discovery and analysis of this vulnerability.

This document was written by Jeffrey P Lanza and Will Dormann . It is based on analysis provided by the NOAA NCIRT Lab.

Other Information

Date Public:	2005-03-17
Date First Published:	2005-03-17
Date Last Updated:	2005-04-20
CERT Advisory:
CVE-ID(s):	CAN-2005-0811
NVD-ID(s):	CAN-2005-0811
US-CERT Technical Alerts:
Metric:	0.46
Document Revision:	34

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