CVE-2012-1996 in Insight Manager
Summary
by MITRE
Unspecified vulnerability in HP Systems Insight Manager (SIM) before 7.0 allows remote attackers to modify data via unknown vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/26/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2012-1996 resides within HP Systems Insight Manager version 6.4 and earlier, representing a critical security weakness that exposes organizations to unauthorized data manipulation. This issue affects a widely deployed systems management solution that provides monitoring and management capabilities for enterprise infrastructure, making it a significant concern for organizations relying on HP SIM for their IT operations. The unspecified nature of the vulnerability vectors indicates that attackers could potentially exploit multiple pathways to gain unauthorized access and modify system data without proper authorization.
The technical flaw within HP SIM stems from inadequate input validation and access control mechanisms that permit remote attackers to manipulate data within the management environment. This weakness creates an attack surface where malicious actors can potentially alter configuration settings, system parameters, or monitoring data without authentication or authorization. The vulnerability's remote exploitability means that attackers do not require physical access to the system or local network privileges to carry out data modification attacks. This characteristic significantly increases the attack surface and potential impact, as attackers can target the system from external networks.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data modification, potentially compromising the integrity of critical system monitoring and management functions. Organizations using HP SIM for infrastructure management could face serious consequences including false alerts, corrupted monitoring data, altered system configurations, or complete disruption of management capabilities. The vulnerability undermines the trustworthiness of the management platform and could lead to incorrect operational decisions based on compromised data. Additionally, the ability to modify data without detection creates opportunities for attackers to establish persistent access or hide malicious activities within the monitored environment.
Organizations should prioritize immediate remediation through the installation of HP SIM version 7.0 or later, which includes patches addressing this vulnerability. Security teams should implement network segmentation and access controls to limit exposure of the SIM management interface to trusted networks only. Regular security assessments of the management infrastructure should be conducted to identify and address similar vulnerabilities in other systems management tools. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-284 Access Control Issues, specifically addressing insufficient access control mechanisms that allow unauthorized data modification. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to techniques involving privilege escalation and data manipulation, potentially enabling adversaries to maintain persistent access and compromise system integrity through unauthorized modifications to management data.