CVE-2011-1863 in Service Manager
Summary
by MITRE
HP Service Manager 7.02, 7.11, 9.20, and 9.21 and Service Center 6.2.8 allow remote authenticated users to conduct unspecified script injection attacks via unknown vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/28/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2011-1863 affects HP Service Manager versions 7.02, 7.11, 9.20, and 9.21, as well as Service Center version 6.2.8, representing a critical security flaw that enables remote authenticated attackers to execute unspecified script injection attacks. This vulnerability resides within enterprise service management software that organizations rely upon for critical business operations, making it particularly concerning from a cybersecurity perspective.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and output encoding mechanisms within the affected HP Service Manager and Service Center applications. Attackers with valid authentication credentials can exploit this weakness through unspecified vectors to inject malicious scripts into the application's processing pipeline. The vulnerability likely occurs when user-supplied data is not properly sanitized before being rendered in web interfaces or processed within the application's backend systems. This type of flaw typically falls under CWE-79, which describes Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities, though the specific attack vectors remain undisclosed in the CVE description.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution, as it can enable attackers to manipulate the service management environment in ways that compromise data integrity, confidentiality, and availability. An authenticated attacker could potentially access sensitive business information, modify service requests, manipulate user permissions, or even escalate privileges within the system. The implications are particularly severe in enterprise environments where HP Service Manager serves as a central hub for IT service management operations, potentially allowing attackers to disrupt critical business processes and gain unauthorized access to confidential organizational data.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should implement immediate mitigation strategies including applying available patches from HP, implementing robust input validation mechanisms, and conducting comprehensive security assessments of their service management environments. Network segmentation and monitoring solutions should be deployed to detect anomalous script injection activities, while privileged account access should be strictly controlled and monitored. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of maintaining up-to-date security patches and implementing defense-in-depth strategies as outlined in the mitre ATT&CK framework's defense evasion and credential access tactics. Regular security audits and penetration testing should be conducted to identify similar vulnerabilities in other enterprise applications, particularly those handling user input and serving web-based interfaces.