CVE-2004-2558 in Tivoli Secureway Policy Director
Summary
by MITRE
Unspecified vulnerability in IBM Tivoli SecureWay Policy Director 3.8, Access Manager for e-business 3.9 to 5.1, Access Manager Identity Manager Solution 5.1, Configuration Manager 4.2, Configuration Manager for Automated Teller Machines 2.1.0, and IBM WebSphere Everyplace Server, Service Provider Offering for Multi-platforms 2.1.3 to 2.15 allow remote attackers to hijack sessions of authenticated users via unknown attack vectors involving certain cookies, aka "Potential Credential Impersonation Attack."
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/28/2019
This vulnerability affects multiple IBM security products including Tivoli SecureWay Policy Director and various Access Manager solutions, presenting a critical session hijacking risk. The unspecified nature of the attack vectors suggests a fundamental flaw in how these systems handle authentication cookies, potentially allowing remote attackers to impersonate authenticated users through manipulation of session tokens. The vulnerability specifically targets the cookie-based authentication mechanisms that are fundamental to web application security, creating a pathway for unauthorized access to user sessions across the affected IBM products.
The technical flaw manifests through improper handling of session cookies within the authentication framework of these security solutions. When users authenticate to these IBM products, session tokens are generated and stored in cookies that should remain secure and unique to each authenticated session. However, the vulnerability allows attackers to exploit weaknesses in cookie management, potentially through cookie injection, prediction, or manipulation techniques that enable them to establish unauthorized sessions with the privileges of legitimate users. This represents a classic credential impersonation attack pattern that undermines the core security principle of authentication integrity.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends across multiple IBM security platforms, affecting organizations that rely on these solutions for enterprise access control and identity management. Successful exploitation could result in complete compromise of user sessions, enabling attackers to access sensitive corporate data, perform unauthorized administrative actions, and potentially escalate privileges within the affected systems. The vulnerability's presence across multiple product versions suggests a systemic issue in the authentication architecture rather than an isolated bug, making it particularly concerning for organizations with extensive IBM security infrastructure deployments.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including enhanced cookie security configurations, regular session token regeneration, and network monitoring for suspicious authentication patterns. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-384, which addresses session management flaws that can lead to session hijacking attacks, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1566 for credential harvesting and T1548 for legitimate credentials use. Defense in depth strategies should include implementing secure cookie attributes such as HttpOnly and Secure flags, deploying web application firewalls to monitor for anomalous authentication traffic, and establishing robust session management policies that automatically terminate suspicious sessions. Regular security assessments of authentication mechanisms and patch management for affected IBM products remain essential remediation strategies.