How Hacker Simulations Helped a Healthcare Company Secure Their Customers' Data?
Discovery of Critical Vulnerabilities
During a comprehensive web application penetration test for a leading healthcare company, our team identified two high-risk vulnerabilities that could have severely compromised customer data:
Account Takeover via Host Header Injection (High Severity)
Broken Access Control
These issues posed significant risks, including unauthorized access to sensitive information and the ability for malicious actors to hijack user accounts.
Exploitation and Potential Impact
Host Header Injection (Account Takeover)
Our testing revealed that the application failed to validate the HTTP Host Header properly. By crafting a malicious Host Header during a simulated attack, we demonstrated the ability to:
Hijack user sessions and impersonate legitimate users.
Access sensitive customer data without proper authentication.
If exploited by a malicious actor, this vulnerability could lead to unauthorized access, loss of customer trust, and severe regulatory penalties for the healthcare company.
Broken Access Control
We identified multiple endpoints where users with lower privileges could perform unauthorized actions. For example:
Accessing administrative functionalities.
Viewing and modifying sensitive patient records.
This issue could allow an attacker to escalate their privileges and compromise the integrity of the entire system.
Other High Vulnerabilities Found
- Security Services
- Session Misconfiguration
- URL Redirection to Untrusted Sites
- Insecure File Upload
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Mitigation Recommendations and Outcome
1. Addressing Host Header Injection:
Implement strict validation of HTTP Host Headers to prevent tampering.
Use a whitelist of allowed Host Headers and reject any unrecognized input.
2. Fixing Broken Access Control:
Enforce robust role-based access control (RBAC) to restrict unauthorized access.
Perform regular permission audits to ensure endpoints align with user privileges.
Outcome: Our recommendations were promptly implemented by the healthcare company’s development team. A retest confirmed that the vulnerabilities were successfully remediated, significantly enhancing the security posture of their web application. This ensured the safety of sensitive patient data, reduced potential compliance risks, and strengthened customer confidence in the company’s commitment to cybersecurity.