CVE-2012-2177 in Cognos Business Intelligence
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in IBM Cognos Business Intelligence (BI) 8.4.1 before IF1, 10.1 before IF2, 10.1.1 before IF2, and 10.2 before IF1 allows user-assisted remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via vectors related to the search feature.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/11/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2012-2177 represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw within IBM Cognos Business Intelligence platforms across multiple version ranges. This security weakness affects IBM Cognos BI 8.4.1 prior to IF1, 10.1 prior to IF2, 10.1.1 prior to IF2, and 10.2 prior to IF1, creating a significant risk for organizations utilizing these business intelligence solutions. The vulnerability specifically manifests through the search functionality of the platform, making it particularly dangerous as search features are commonly used by end users and administrators alike.
The technical exploitation of this XSS vulnerability occurs when user-assisted remote attackers can inject arbitrary web script or HTML code through the search feature vectors. This flaw allows malicious actors to execute scripts in the context of the victim's browser session, potentially leading to session hijacking, credential theft, or unauthorized access to sensitive business intelligence data. The vulnerability's classification aligns with CWE-79 which specifically addresses Cross-Site Scripting flaws in web applications, where improper validation or sanitization of user-supplied input enables malicious code execution.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script injection, as it can enable attackers to perform various malicious activities within the target environment. An attacker could craft malicious search queries that, when executed by other users, would execute arbitrary JavaScript code in their browsers. This capability could lead to complete compromise of user sessions, data exfiltration, or the installation of additional malware. The vulnerability is particularly concerning in business intelligence environments where sensitive financial, operational, and strategic data is processed and displayed.
Organizations running affected IBM Cognos BI versions should prioritize immediate remediation through official IBM patches and updates. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of input validation and output encoding in web applications, particularly in enterprise platforms handling sensitive business data. Security teams should implement additional monitoring and logging of search activities to detect potential exploitation attempts. This vulnerability also highlights the need for comprehensive security testing of web application features, particularly those involving user input processing and dynamic content generation. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this as a web application attack vector, specifically related to command injection and script execution techniques that can be leveraged for persistent access and data manipulation within enterprise environments.