CVE-2010-3898 in OmniFind
Summary
by MITRE
IBM OmniFind Enterprise Edition 8.x and 9.x does not properly restrict the cookie path of administrator (aka ESAdmin) cookies, which might allow remote attackers to bypass authentication by leveraging access to other pages on the web site.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/08/2019
IBM OmniFind Enterprise Edition versions 8.x and 9.x contain a critical authentication bypass vulnerability due to improper cookie path restriction for administrator sessions. This flaw resides in the web application's session management implementation where the ESAdmin cookies are not properly constrained to their intended paths, creating a significant security weakness that can be exploited by remote attackers. The vulnerability stems from the application's failure to enforce proper cookie path validation, allowing malicious actors to manipulate session cookies across different paths within the same domain. This misconfiguration creates a pathway for unauthorized access to administrative functions through session hijacking or cookie manipulation techniques. The flaw specifically affects the administrator authentication mechanism by permitting cookies from higher-level paths to be accepted by lower-level application endpoints, effectively bypassing the intended access controls. According to CWE-295, this represents a path traversal or cookie manipulation issue that directly impacts authentication mechanisms, while the ATT&CK framework categorizes this under privilege escalation and credential access techniques. The vulnerability can be exploited by attackers who gain access to any page within the web application's domain and then leverage the improperly restricted cookies to assume administrative privileges. This weakness is particularly dangerous because it allows attackers to bypass authentication without requiring valid credentials or exploiting other application vulnerabilities. The impact extends beyond simple unauthorized access as it enables full administrative control over the OmniFind Enterprise Edition system, potentially allowing for data manipulation, system configuration changes, and complete compromise of the application's security posture. Organizations running these affected versions face significant risk as the vulnerability can be exploited through various attack vectors including web application penetration testing, social engineering, or by exploiting other weaknesses in the web application's attack surface. The exploitation requires minimal technical skill and can be automated, making it particularly attractive to threat actors. This vulnerability directly violates the principle of least privilege by allowing administrative sessions to be accessible across unrestricted paths, and it represents a failure in secure session management practices. The affected systems must be immediately patched or mitigated as the vulnerability has been widely documented and can be leveraged by both automated attacks and skilled adversaries. Security professionals should prioritize this vulnerability in their assessment and remediation efforts due to its potential for complete system compromise and the relatively simple exploitation methods available to attackers. The fix requires proper implementation of cookie path restrictions to ensure that administrative sessions are only accessible from their designated application paths, preventing cross-path cookie access that enables authentication bypass. Organizations should also implement additional monitoring and logging of authentication events to detect potential exploitation attempts of this vulnerability.