CVE-2002-0582 in Xpede
Summary
by MITRE
WorkforceROI Xpede 4.1 stores temporary expense claim reports in a world-readable and indexable /reports/temp directory, which allows remote attackers to read the reports by accessing the directory.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/07/2018
The vulnerability identified in CVE-2002-0582 affects WorkforceROI Xpede version 4.1, a workforce management and expense reporting system. This security flaw represents a critical misconfiguration issue that exposes sensitive financial data to unauthorized access. The vulnerability stems from improper directory permissions and access controls within the application's temporary file storage mechanism. The /reports/temp directory is configured with world-readable permissions, allowing any remote attacker to access the directory contents without authentication or authorization.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves the application's failure to enforce proper access controls on temporary file storage locations. When expense claim reports are generated, they are temporarily stored in the /reports/temp directory with permissions that permit read access to all users on the system. This configuration violates fundamental security principles of least privilege and proper access control enforcement. The directory structure is also indexable, meaning attackers can enumerate the contents through directory listing capabilities rather than requiring knowledge of specific file names.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability creates significant risk for organizations using the WorkforceROI Xpede system. Remote attackers can directly access sensitive employee expense data including personal financial information, business travel details, and corporate expenditure records. The impact extends beyond simple data exposure as these reports may contain confidential business information, personal identification details, and financial transaction records that could be exploited for identity theft, financial fraud, or corporate espionage. The vulnerability affects the confidentiality aspect of the CIA triad and can lead to compliance violations under various data protection regulations.
The attack vector for this vulnerability is straightforward and requires minimal technical expertise. Attackers can simply navigate to the /reports/temp directory through web access and retrieve the temporary expense reports. This represents a classic path traversal and access control bypass vulnerability that falls under the CWE-276 category for improper file permissions. The vulnerability also aligns with ATT&CK technique T1005 for data from local system and T1041 for exfiltration through command and control channels. Organizations may not be immediately aware of this exposure since the system appears to function normally while simultaneously providing unauthorized access to sensitive data.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should focus on immediate permission adjustments and long-term architectural improvements. The most direct fix involves changing the directory permissions to restrict access to authorized users only, ensuring that the /reports/temp directory is not world-readable. System administrators should implement proper access control lists and file permission settings that follow security best practices. Additionally, organizations should implement regular security audits to identify and remediate similar permission misconfigurations across their infrastructure. The solution should include proper logging and monitoring of access attempts to the temporary directories to detect potential exploitation attempts. Implementing a principle of least privilege for all temporary file storage locations and conducting regular penetration testing to identify similar misconfigurations would provide comprehensive protection against this class of vulnerability.