CVE-2008-6412 in Vignette Content Management
Summary
by MITRE
Unspecified vulnerability in Vignette Content Management 7.3.0.5, 7.3.1, 7.3.1.1, 7.4, and 7.5 allows "low privileged" users to gain administrator privileges via unknown attack vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/02/2017
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2008-6412 represents a critical privilege escalation flaw within Vignette Content Management software versions 7.3.0.5, 7.3.1, 7.3.1.1, 7.4, and 7.5. This security weakness allows users with low privileged access to elevate their permissions to administrator level, fundamentally compromising the system's security model and access controls. The unspecified nature of the attack vectors suggests that the vulnerability may manifest through multiple pathways, making it particularly challenging to defend against and remediate. Such privilege escalation vulnerabilities are classified under CWE-269, which specifically addresses "Improper Privilege Management" and represents a fundamental breakdown in the principle of least privilege that is essential for secure system design.
The technical flaw underlying this vulnerability stems from inadequate authorization checks and validation mechanisms within the content management system's permission model. When low privileged users can successfully exploit this weakness, they effectively bypass the intended security boundaries that should prevent unauthorized access to administrative functions. This type of vulnerability directly violates the security principle that users should only have access to resources and functions necessary for their specific roles. The attack vectors likely involve manipulation of session tokens, direct object references, or improper input validation that allows attackers to craft requests that appear to originate from privileged users, thereby enabling unauthorized administrative access.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and multifaceted, as it provides attackers with complete control over the content management system. Once an attacker gains administrator privileges, they can modify or delete content, create new user accounts with elevated permissions, access sensitive data, and potentially use the compromised system as a foothold for further attacks within the network. The vulnerability also poses significant risks to data integrity and confidentiality, as administrators have unrestricted access to all system resources and can manipulate content in ways that may go undetected for extended periods. According to ATT&CK framework, this vulnerability maps to privilege escalation techniques and can be leveraged for lateral movement within compromised environments.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should implement immediate mitigations including applying the vendor-provided security patches, reviewing and strengthening access controls, monitoring for unauthorized administrative activities, and conducting thorough security assessments of their content management systems. The remediation process should involve comprehensive testing to ensure that the patch does not introduce regressions in system functionality while also implementing additional security controls such as multi-factor authentication for administrative accounts and regular security audits. Security teams should also consider implementing network segmentation and monitoring solutions to detect anomalous administrative activities that might indicate exploitation attempts. This vulnerability serves as a stark reminder of the importance of maintaining up-to-date security patches and the critical need for robust access control mechanisms in enterprise content management systems.