CVE-2008-5257 in Tivoli Access Manager for e-business
Summary
by MITRE
webseald in WebSEAL 6.0.0.17 in IBM Tivoli Access Manager for e-business allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash or hang) via HTTP requests, as demonstrated by a McAfee vulnerability scan.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/27/2017
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2008-5257 affects the webseald component within IBM Tivoli Access Manager for e-business version 6.0.0.17. This issue represents a denial of service weakness that can be exploited remotely by attackers through carefully crafted HTTP requests. The vulnerability was specifically demonstrated during a McAfee vulnerability scan, highlighting its potential for exploitation in automated security testing environments. The webseald process serves as the core web server component responsible for handling authentication and access control functions within the Tivoli Access Manager ecosystem, making this vulnerability particularly concerning for organizations relying on this security infrastructure.
The technical flaw manifests as a failure in the webseald process to properly handle malformed or specially crafted HTTP requests, leading to system instability and potential crashes or hangs. This behavior indicates a lack of proper input validation and error handling within the HTTP request processing pipeline. The vulnerability stems from insufficient sanitization of incoming HTTP headers and request parameters, allowing maliciously formatted requests to trigger buffer overflows, memory corruption, or other internal state inconsistencies that cause the service to terminate unexpectedly or become unresponsive. The issue falls under the category of improper input validation as classified by CWE-20, which specifically addresses weaknesses in the design or implementation of input validation mechanisms.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption, as it can severely compromise the availability of access management services within organizations using IBM Tivoli Access Manager. When the webseald process crashes or hangs, it prevents legitimate users from accessing protected applications and resources, effectively creating a denial of service condition that can last until the service is manually restarted or the system is rebooted. This vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it can be triggered by automated scanning tools, meaning that routine security assessments or network reconnaissance activities could inadvertently cause service outages. Organizations may experience significant operational disruption during security audits or when scanning their networks for vulnerabilities, as the vulnerability can be exploited without requiring elevated privileges or specific authentication credentials.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including network segmentation to limit access to the vulnerable webseald service, deploying intrusion detection systems to monitor for suspicious HTTP request patterns, and applying the appropriate IBM security patches as soon as they become available. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper error handling and input validation in web server components, aligning with ATT&CK technique T1499.004 for network denial of service attacks. System administrators should also consider implementing service monitoring and automated restart mechanisms to minimize the impact of potential exploitation, while conducting regular security assessments to identify other potential vulnerabilities in the access management infrastructure. The issue underscores the critical need for robust security practices in enterprise authentication systems where a single vulnerability can compromise the entire access control ecosystem.