calibre has IP Ban Bypass via X-Forwarded-For Header Spoofing
calibre is a cross-platform e-book manager for viewing, converting, editing, and cataloging e-books. Prior to version 9.4.0, the calibre Content Server's brute-force protection mechanism uses a ban key derived from both `remote_addr` and the `X-Forwarded-For` header. Since the `X-Forwarded-For` header is read directly from the HTTP request without any validation or trusted-proxy configuration, an attacker can bypass IP-based bans by simply changing or adding this header, rendering the brute-force protection completely ineffective. This is particularly dangerous for calibre servers exposed to the internet, where brute-force protection is the primary defense against credential stuffing and password guessing attacks. Version 9.4.0 contains a fix for the issue.
Problem Types
| Type | CWE ID | Description |
|---|
| CWE | CWE-307 | CWE-307: Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts |
| CWE | CWE-346 | CWE-346: Origin Validation Error |
Type: CWE
Description: CWE-307: Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts
Type: CWE
Description: CWE-346: Origin Validation Error
Metrics
| Version | Base score | Base severity | Vector |
|---|
| 3.1 | 5.3 | MEDIUM | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N |
Version: 3.1
Base score: 5.3
Base severity: MEDIUM
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N