CVE-2021-41171
Published: 22 October 2021
Summary
CVE-2021-41171 is a medium-severity Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts (CWE-307) vulnerability in Elabftw Elabftw. Its CVSS base score is 5.9 (Medium).
Operationally, ranked at the 45.6th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2021-28276
Vulnerability details
eLabFTW is an open source electronic lab notebook manager for research teams. In versions of eLabFTW before 4.1.0, it allows attackers to bypass a brute-force protection mechanism by using many different forged PHPSESSID values in HTTP Cookie header. This issue…
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has been addressed by implementing brute force login protection, as recommended by Owasp with Device Cookies. This mechanism will not impact users and will effectively thwart any brute-force attempts at guessing passwords. The only correct way to address this is to upgrade to version 4.1.0. Adding rate limitation upstream of the eLabFTW service is of course a valid option, with or without upgrading.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Likely Mitigating Controls AI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
This control directly enforces limits on consecutive invalid logon attempts and automatic response (e.g., lockout) to prevent brute-force exploitation of authentication mechanisms.
Specific conditions can include excessive failed attempts, triggering stronger authentication that restricts brute-force exploitation.