CVE-2024-47057 is a medium-severity security vulnerability affecting Mautic, an open-source marketing automation platform widely used for managing customer relationships and marketing campaigns. The vulnerability resides in the "Forget your password" functionality, where an unauthenticated attacker can perform a timing attack to enumerate valid usernames. Specifically, the system responds with different timing delays depending on whether the username exists or not. This discrepancy in response time, combined with the absence of request rate limiting, enables attackers to distinguish valid usernames from invalid ones by measuring response latency. This type of vulnerability is classified under CWE-203 (Observable Discrepancy), which involves information leakage through observable differences in system behavior. Although the vulnerability does not directly allow password resets or account takeovers, it facilitates reconnaissance activities that can be leveraged in subsequent attacks such as targeted phishing, brute force, or credential stuffing. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 5.3 (medium), reflecting that the attack vector is network-based, requires no privileges or user interaction, and impacts confidentiality by leaking valid usernames. The vulnerability affects all Mautic versions greater than 1.0. The recommended mitigation is to update Mautic to a version where the password reset response times are normalized, eliminating timing discrepancies regardless of user existence. Additionally, implementing request rate limiting can reduce the feasibility of automated enumeration attacks.

For European organizations using Mautic for marketing automation, this vulnerability poses a moderate risk primarily related to information disclosure. The ability to enumerate valid usernames can aid attackers in crafting targeted social engineering or credential-based attacks, potentially leading to unauthorized access if combined with weak password policies or reused credentials. While the vulnerability itself does not allow direct account compromise, it lowers the barrier for attackers to identify valid accounts, increasing the likelihood of successful subsequent attacks. Organizations handling sensitive customer data or operating in regulated sectors such as finance, healthcare, or telecommunications may face compliance and reputational risks if attackers leverage this information to breach accounts or exfiltrate data. Moreover, marketing platforms often integrate with other enterprise systems, so enumeration could be a stepping stone for lateral movement or more sophisticated attacks. The lack of known exploits in the wild reduces immediate risk but does not eliminate the need for prompt remediation given the ease of exploitation and potential impact on confidentiality.

1. Upgrade Mautic to the latest version that addresses the timing discrepancy in the password reset functionality, ensuring uniform response times regardless of username validity. 2. Implement strict rate limiting and throttling on the password reset endpoint to prevent automated enumeration attempts. 3. Employ web application firewalls (WAFs) with rules designed to detect and block timing attack patterns or excessive requests to the password reset feature. 4. Monitor logs for unusual activity patterns related to password reset requests, such as high-frequency attempts from single IP addresses or distributed sources. 5. Educate users and administrators about the risks of username enumeration and encourage strong, unique passwords combined with multi-factor authentication (MFA) to mitigate risks from credential-based attacks. 6. Consider additional application-level mitigations such as introducing random delays or uniform error messages to further obscure user existence information.