Executive Summary

This vulnerability in PAD CMS is due to weak client-side brute-force protection. The system uses two cookies, login_count and login_timeout, to track login attempts and timeout periods, but this information is not stored on the server. Because of this, an attacker can reset these cookies to bypass the brute-force protection mechanism and repeatedly attempt to guess passwords without restriction.

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Impact Analysis

This vulnerability allows an attacker to bypass brute-force protections and potentially gain unauthorized access to user accounts by repeatedly attempting passwords without being blocked or delayed. This can lead to account compromise, unauthorized data access, and potential further exploitation of the system.

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Mitigation Strategies

Since PAD CMS is End-Of-Life and no patches will be published, immediate mitigation steps include disabling or restricting access to the affected login functionality, implementing server-side brute-force protections such as rate limiting or IP blocking, and monitoring for suspicious login attempts. Additionally, consider migrating to a supported CMS platform to avoid unpatched vulnerabilities.

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