CVE-2005-0486 in Secure Global Desktop
Summary
by MITRE
Tarantella Secure Global Desktop Enterprise Edition 4.00 and 3.42, and Tarantella Enterprise 3 3.40 and 3.30, when using RSA SecurID and multiple users have the same username, reveals sensitive information during authentication, which allows remote attackers to identify valid usernames and the authentication scheme.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/23/2017
The vulnerability described in CVE-2005-0486 represents a critical information disclosure flaw within the Tarantella Secure Global Desktop Enterprise Edition and Tarantella Enterprise products. This issue specifically manifests when RSA SecurID authentication is employed alongside multiple user accounts sharing identical usernames across different authentication contexts. The flaw stems from the application's improper handling of authentication responses, which inadvertently provides attackers with discernible information about the validity of usernames and the underlying authentication mechanisms in use.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves the authentication system's response behavior when processing login attempts with duplicate usernames. When multiple users share the same username across different authentication domains or contexts, the system fails to provide consistent or randomized responses to authentication attempts. This inconsistent behavior creates observable patterns that attackers can exploit to distinguish between valid and invalid usernames through timing analysis and response differentiation. The vulnerability operates at the authentication layer, specifically targeting the authentication protocol implementation rather than the cryptographic security mechanisms themselves.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability enables remote attackers to perform user enumeration attacks against the affected systems. The ability to identify valid usernames through authentication responses significantly weakens the overall security posture by providing attackers with targeted information for subsequent attack vectors. The disclosure of authentication scheme details further compounds the risk, as it reveals the specific security mechanisms in use, potentially enabling more sophisticated attacks targeting the RSA SecurID implementation. This vulnerability directly impacts the principle of least privilege and can facilitate credential stuffing, brute force attacks, and other authentication-related exploits.
The security implications of this vulnerability align with CWE-200, which addresses information exposure, and can be mapped to ATT&CK technique T1078 for valid accounts and T1589 for credential access. Organizations utilizing these specific versions of Tarantella products face heightened risk of unauthorized access, particularly when the affected systems are exposed to untrusted networks or when attackers can perform continuous reconnaissance. The vulnerability essentially undermines the security controls designed to protect against unauthorized authentication attempts and user enumeration attacks. Mitigation strategies should include immediate patching of affected versions, implementation of account lockout mechanisms, and configuration of the authentication system to provide consistent response times regardless of username validity. Additionally, network segmentation and access controls should be implemented to limit exposure of these authentication endpoints to untrusted parties, while monitoring for anomalous authentication patterns can help detect exploitation attempts.