CVE-2008-0533 in ACS Solution Engine
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities in securecgi-bin/CSuserCGI.exe in User-Changeable Password (UCP) before 4.2 in Cisco Secure Access Control Server (ACS) for Windows and ACS Solution Engine allow remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via an argument located immediately after the Help argument, and possibly unspecified other vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/07/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2008-0533 represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw in Cisco Secure Access Control Server implementations, specifically affecting the User-Changeable Password component prior to version 4.2. This vulnerability exists within the securecgi-bin/CSuserCGI.exe module and demonstrates a classic input validation weakness that enables remote attackers to execute malicious scripts within the context of affected user sessions. The flaw is particularly concerning as it affects enterprise-level network access control systems that manage critical authentication infrastructure, potentially allowing adversaries to compromise user credentials and network access privileges.
The technical exploitation mechanism centers on the improper handling of user-supplied input parameters within the CSuserCGI.exe application. Attackers can manipulate the argument sequence immediately following the Help argument to inject malicious HTML or JavaScript code that will be executed in the victim's browser context. This vulnerability falls under CWE-79 which specifically addresses cross-site scripting flaws where untrusted data is incorporated into web pages without proper validation or encoding. The vulnerability's impact extends beyond simple script injection as it can be leveraged to perform session hijacking, credential theft, and unauthorized access to protected network resources through the compromised user sessions.
The operational implications of this vulnerability are severe for organizations relying on Cisco Secure ACS for Windows or ACS Solution Engine deployments. Attackers exploiting this flaw can manipulate the authentication interface to redirect users to malicious sites, steal session cookies, or inject backdoors that maintain persistent access to the network infrastructure. The vulnerability affects the core authentication functionality of the system, potentially allowing unauthorized individuals to bypass authentication mechanisms and gain administrative access to the secure access control server. This represents a significant threat to network security posture as the compromised system serves as a central point for managing user access rights and network authentication policies.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying the vendor-provided security patches for Cisco Secure ACS versions prior to 4.2, implementing input validation measures at network boundaries, and conducting thorough security assessments of all authentication interfaces. Network segmentation and monitoring solutions should be deployed to detect anomalous traffic patterns that may indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of secure coding practices and proper input sanitization as outlined in the OWASP Top Ten security standards, particularly addressing the need for comprehensive parameter validation and output encoding. Additionally, security teams should consider implementing web application firewalls to provide additional protection layers against similar injection attacks and establish incident response procedures to address potential exploitation of this vulnerability in production environments.