CVE-2024-28141 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability identified in the Scan2Net web application developed by Image Access GmbH. CSRF vulnerabilities occur when a web application fails to verify that requests made to it originate from legitimate users, allowing attackers to trick authenticated users into submitting unauthorized commands. In this case, the Scan2Net application does not implement adequate CSRF protections, such as anti-CSRF tokens or origin checks. An attacker can exploit this by crafting malicious links or web pages that, when visited by an authenticated user, cause the user’s browser to send unauthorized requests to the Scan2Net application. Potential malicious actions include resetting the administrator password or creating new user accounts, which could lead to privilege escalation or unauthorized access. The vulnerability has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 6.3 (medium severity), reflecting its network attack vector, low attack complexity, no required privileges, but requiring user interaction. The impact includes limited confidentiality loss, integrity compromise, and availability disruption. No public exploits have been reported yet, but the vulnerability poses a significant risk if exploited. The affected product version is indicated as '0', which likely means all current versions or an unspecified version set are vulnerable. The vulnerability was published on December 11, 2024, and assigned by SEC-VLab.

For European organizations using Scan2Net, this vulnerability could allow attackers to perform unauthorized administrative actions by leveraging authenticated users’ sessions. This can lead to unauthorized user creation, password resets, and potentially full administrative control over the scanning infrastructure. Such control could disrupt document workflows, leak sensitive scanned data, or enable further lateral movement within the network. The impact on confidentiality is moderate due to potential data exposure; integrity is affected by unauthorized changes to user accounts and settings; availability could be impacted if attackers disrupt scanning services. Since Scan2Net is used in professional and industrial environments, disruption could affect business operations and compliance with data protection regulations such as GDPR. The requirement for user interaction limits mass exploitation but targeted phishing campaigns could be effective. The lack of known exploits in the wild currently reduces immediate risk but does not eliminate it.

To mitigate CVE-2024-28141, organizations should implement several specific measures: 1) Apply any available vendor patches or updates as soon as they are released. 2) If patches are not yet available, deploy web application firewalls (WAFs) with rules to detect and block CSRF attack patterns and suspicious HTTP requests targeting Scan2Net. 3) Configure Scan2Net or its hosting environment to enforce strict SameSite cookie attributes to reduce CSRF risk. 4) Implement network segmentation to isolate Scan2Net devices from general user networks, limiting exposure. 5) Educate users about phishing and social engineering risks to reduce the likelihood of clicking malicious links. 6) Monitor logs for unusual administrative actions or account creations. 7) Consider additional authentication factors for administrative actions to reduce risk from forged requests. 8) Review and harden web server and application configurations to enforce origin and referer header checks where possible. These steps go beyond generic advice by focusing on compensating controls and user awareness tailored to this vulnerability’s exploitation vector.