CVE-2008-6540

DotNetNuke < 4.8.2 - Unauthenticated Access Restriction Bypass via Default Validation and Decryption Keys

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Exploitation Summary

EIP tracks 1 public exploit for CVE-2008-6540. PoCs published by Brian Holyfield.

AI-analyzed exploit summary This exploit demonstrates a weak encryption vulnerability in DotNetNuke by generating and encrypting two FormsAuthenticationTickets to bypass authentication. The PoC shows how an attacker can craft malicious cookies to gain administrative access.

Description

DotNetNuke before 4.8.2, during installation or upgrade, does not warn the administrator when the default (1) ValidationKey and (2) DecryptionKey values cannot be modified in the web.config file, which allows remote attackers to bypass intended access restrictions by using the default keys.

Exploits (1)

exploitdb WORKING POC VERIFIED
by Brian Holyfield · remotewindows
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/31465

This exploit demonstrates a weak encryption vulnerability in DotNetNuke by generating and encrypting two FormsAuthenticationTickets to bypass authentication. The PoC shows how an attacker can craft malicious cookies to gain administrative access.

Classification
Working Poc 90%
Attack Type
Auth Bypass
Complexity
Trivial
Reliability
Reliable
Target: DotNetNuke 4.8.1
No auth needed
Prerequisites: Access to the target application to send crafted cookies
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 16, 2026 Full analysis →

References (6)

Core 6
Core References
Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry vdb-entry x_refsource_xf
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/41399
Exploit vdb-entry x_refsource_bid
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/28391
Vendor Advisory third-party-advisory x_refsource_secunia
http://secunia.com/advisories/29488
Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry mailing-list x_refsource_bugtraq
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/489957/100/0/threaded
Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry vdb-entry x_refsource_osvdb
http://osvdb.org/43720

Scores

EPSS 0.0762
EPSS Percentile 92.1%

Details

CWE
CWE-264
Status published
Products (18)
dotnetnuke/dotnetnuke 1.0.6
dotnetnuke/dotnetnuke 1.0.7
dotnetnuke/dotnetnuke 1.0.8
dotnetnuke/dotnetnuke 1.0.9
dotnetnuke/dotnetnuke 1.0.10d
dotnetnuke/dotnetnuke 1.0.10e
dotnetnuke/dotnetnuke 2.1.1
dotnetnuke/dotnetnuke 2.1.2
dotnetnuke/dotnetnuke 3.0.7
dotnetnuke/dotnetnuke 3.0.8
... and 8 more
Published Mar 30, 2009
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026