• Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
MUST READ

Security Affairs newsletter Round 531 by Pierluigi Paganini – INTERNATIONAL EDITION

 | 

North Korea-linked threat actors spread macOS NimDoor malware via fake Zoom updates

 | 

Critical Sudo bugs expose major Linux distros to local Root exploits

 | 

Google fined $314M for misusing idle Android users' data

 | 

A flaw in Catwatchful spyware exposed logins of +62,000 users

 | 

China-linked group Houken hit French organizations using zero-days

 | 

Cybercriminals Target Brazil: 248,725 Exposed in CIEE One Data Breach

 | 

Europol shuts down Archetyp Market, longest-running dark web drug marketplace

 | 

Kelly Benefits data breach has impacted 550,000 people, and the situation continues to worsen as the investigation progresses

 | 

Cisco removed the backdoor account from its Unified Communications Manager

 | 

U.S. Sanctions Russia's Aeza Group for aiding crooks with bulletproof hosting

 | 

Qantas confirms customer data breach amid Scattered Spider attacks

 | 

CVE-2025-6554 is the fourth Chrome zero-day patched by Google in 2025

 | 

U.S. CISA adds TeleMessage TM SGNL flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

A sophisticated cyberattack hit the International Criminal Court

 | 

Esse Health data breach impacted 263,000 individuals

 | 

Europol dismantles €460M crypto scam targeting 5,000 victims worldwide

 | 

CISA and U.S. Agencies warn of ongoing Iranian cyber threats to critical infrastructure

 | 

U.S. CISA adds Citrix NetScaler flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

Canada bans Hikvision over national security concerns

 | 
  • Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
  • Home
  • Hacking
  • Security
  • eBay XSRF flaw allows attacker to make unauthorized purchases

eBay XSRF flaw allows attacker to make unauthorized purchases

Pierluigi Paganini December 29, 2013

EBay website is vulnerable to XSRF (Cross-site request forgery) attack that would allow an attacker to hijack an account and make unauthorized purchases.

A new flaw has been discovered in the official EBay website, the vulnerability allows an attacker to hijack an account and make unauthorized purchases from the victim’s account.

The flaw is not new and it was reported to the company last August, eBay promptly analyzed it and in three different security advisories informed that the vulnerability was fixed, but the reality is quite different because the official portal is still affected by the bug.

The UK researcher Paul Moore of Cresona Corp. discovered the flaw nearly five months ago reporting it to eBay, but nothing is changed.

An attacker just need to lure victims to a website hosting the exploit, for example sharing a link on a social media or including it in an email.

The exploit, dubbed XSRF Router, works if the victim has an open eBay session, it is able to delivers a payload that changes the user’s setting including address, phone number and zip code, the changes allow the attacker to request a password reset without ever having the victim’s credentials.

A Cross-site request forgery (XSRF or CSRF) is a type of malicious exploit of a website whereby unauthorized commands are transmitted from a user that the website trusts, it exploits the trust that a site has in a user’s browser. The browser infact uses mechanism of cookies to verify a user’s identity and maintain a log-in.

“I’ve given up asking eBay. The intention now is to raise awareness with as many people as possible,” “The addition of one-click payments via Paypal mean it’s now more urgent than ever, as attackers can use linked Paypal accounts to purchase goods, even without knowing the user’s Paypal username or password.  With the initial exploit being carried out by the affected user’s PC, it’d be difficult to disprove they weren’t responsible for any action which followed.” the expert reported to ThreatPost.

“Absolutely nothing has changed.  There are no XSRF tokens in the headers, DOM or cookie jar,  so the original exploit from four and a half months ago still works,” Moore added.

Moore explained that EBay implements a flawed version of the profile update function, the form in fact lacks XSRF token to ensure the legitimate site delivered the right form by linking a unique token with user’s identity.

“Without an XSRF token (which ensures the genuine site delivered the form by linking a unique token with you personally), the form is no different to any other on the web,” Moore said. “As such, it can be pre-populated and submitted by anyone.  If you happen to be logged in at the time, your profile can be updated simply by visiting another web site.” said Moore.

The password reset implemented by eBay is based on the user’s verification of two answers on two of three fields:

  • the secret question.
  • zip code.
  • phone number.

Ebay mechanism has also requested to the user to provide through a second help page a valid phone number where eBay will send a four-digit PIN enabling to the new number entered by the attacker via the exploit.

eBay CSRF flaw

eBay CSRF flaw 2

“So to summarize… the hacker submits a fake form which changes your contact telephone number, runs a password reset and waits for the phone to ring. Time required to hijack an account… < 1 minute.” states Moore’s post.

Once obtained access to the user’s account the attacker could view a history of their eBay activity or make unauthorized purchases and if the victim’s PayPal account is linked to a bank account the losses could be higher.

The real problem is that it is quite impossible to repudiate every purchase from te victim’s eBay account as explained by Moore:

“It’s going to be very difficult to prove your innocence too.  After all, the initial request came from your machine, you‘ve purchased something you were genuinely interested in, eBay recently contacted you on your telephone number and you‘ve left good feedback,” he said. “It’s highly likely that eBay have other security procedures in place but rest assured, the money will be long gone.  You may get it back directly from eBay, but you’re going to struggle to explain how they managed to gain access to your account from your own PC.”

To protect your eBay account follows a few suggestions:

  • As soon as you’ve finished with eBay, log out straight away.  This will invalidate your cookie and prevent any unauthorized use.
  • While you’re logged in, do not visit any other website… not even in a new tab/window.
  • Change your password regularly.  Use 1Password to make life easier.

Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs –  eBay, XSRF)


facebook linkedin twitter

Cross-site Request Forgery EBay fraud Hacking PayPal security XSRF

you might also like

Pierluigi Paganini July 05, 2025
North Korea-linked threat actors spread macOS NimDoor malware via fake Zoom updates
Read more
Pierluigi Paganini July 04, 2025
Critical Sudo bugs expose major Linux distros to local Root exploits
Read more

leave a comment

newsletter

Subscribe to my email list and stay
up-to-date!

    recent articles

    Security Affairs newsletter Round 531 by Pierluigi Paganini – INTERNATIONAL EDITION

    Breaking News / July 06, 2025

    North Korea-linked threat actors spread macOS NimDoor malware via fake Zoom updates

    Malware / July 05, 2025

    Critical Sudo bugs expose major Linux distros to local Root exploits

    Security / July 04, 2025

    Google fined $314M for misusing idle Android users' data

    Laws and regulations / July 04, 2025

    A flaw in Catwatchful spyware exposed logins of +62,000 users

    Malware / July 04, 2025

    To contact me write an email to:

    Pierluigi Paganini :
    pierluigi.paganini@securityaffairs.co

    LEARN MORE

    QUICK LINKS

    • Home
    • Cyber Crime
    • Cyber warfare
    • APT
    • Data Breach
    • Deep Web
    • Digital ID
    • Hacking
    • Hacktivism
    • Intelligence
    • Internet of Things
    • Laws and regulations
    • Malware
    • Mobile
    • Reports
    • Security
    • Social Networks
    • Terrorism
    • ICS-SCADA
    • POLICIES
    • Contact me

    Copyright@securityaffairs 2024

    We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
    Cookie SettingsAccept All
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities...
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT