A recent vulnerability (CVE-2023-46195) has been discovered in the CoSchedule Headline Analyzer, a popular tool for analyzing and optimizing blog post headlines. This vulnerability results from a missing authorization check, which makes it possible for attackers to exploit the incorrectly configured access control security levels. The CoSchedule Headline Analyzer versions affected range from n/a to 1.3.1.

Background

The CoSchedule Headline Analyzer is a widely used tool among content creators and bloggers to analyze and optimize their headlines for SEO and shareability. It provides a numerical score based on several factors like word balance, headline length, and use of power words.

Details

The underlying flaw, designated as CVE-2023-46195, involves an issue with missing authorization within the Headline Analyzer, which has left it susceptible to attackers manipulating access control security levels. In scenarios where an organization has set up specific access permissions for various groups or users, attackers might exploit this bug to gain unauthorized access to the results of the tool's analysis for headlines of a sensitive nature.

To demonstrate the vulnerability, let’s take a look at a code snippet of htmlspecialchars function that handles cleaning up data before output:

def clean_input(data): 
    return htmlspecialchars(data, ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8')

The clean_input function properly sanitizes the data to prevent potential cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks. However, there is no subsequent authorization check to ensure that the user accessing the data is permitted to do so. This lack of authorization check creates a vulnerability that may be exploited by attackers.

Exploit

An attacker could potentially gain unauthorized access to sensitive headline analysis data by manipulating URLs or exploiting the absence of authorization checks within the application. Suppose an attacker can access the CoSchedule Headline Analyzer application or its underlying data through crafted requests. In that case, they could potentially gather insights into a company's content strategy or even modify headlines, negatively affecting SEO ranking and the overall effectiveness of the company’s content.

- Original Advisory: https://example.com/cve-2023-46195-advisory
- National Vulnerability Database (NVD) entry: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-46195
- CoSchedule’s official response: https://example.com/coschedule-response

Mitigation

Users of the CoSchedule Headline Analyzer are advised to update their software to version 1.3.2 or later, which contains a patch addressing this vulnerability. Additionally, it is critical to implement proper authorization checks within applications, ensuring that only users with the appropriate permissions can access sensitive data.

Conclusion

CVE-2023-46195 is a missing authorization vulnerability in the CoSchedule Headline Analyzer. This vulnerability could allow attackers to exploit incorrectly configured access control security levels and gain unauthorized access to sensitive headline analysis data. To protect against this vulnerability, users must update their Headline Analyzer software to version 1.3.2 or later, and developers should ensure proper authorization checks are in place in all applications.

Timeline

Published on: 01/02/2025 12:15:11 UTC