CVE-2012-3300 in WebSphere Commerce
Summary
by MITRE
IBM WebSphere Commerce 7.0 before 7.0.0.6, when persistent sessions and personalization IDs are enabled, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (resource consumption) via unspecified vectors.
If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/07/2018
IBM WebSphere Commerce version 7.0 before 7.0.0.6 contains a vulnerability that enables remote attackers to perform denial of service attacks through resource consumption when persistent sessions and personalization IDs are enabled. This vulnerability falls under the category of resource exhaustion attacks that exploit weaknesses in session management and personalization features. The flaw specifically manifests when the system operates with persistent session functionality and personalization ID mechanisms enabled, creating an exploitable condition that can be leveraged by unauthorized users to consume system resources.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate handling of session data and personalization identifiers within the WebSphere Commerce framework. When persistent sessions are enabled, the system maintains session state information across multiple requests, while personalization IDs track user preferences and behaviors. The interaction between these features creates a scenario where malicious actors can submit crafted requests that cause the system to continuously allocate and consume memory resources. This occurs through the manipulation of session identifiers or personalization data that triggers excessive resource allocation within the application server's memory management systems. The vulnerability represents a classic case of insufficient input validation and resource management, where the system fails to properly limit or monitor resource consumption patterns during session processing.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption to potentially compromise the overall stability and performance of the commerce platform. Attackers can consume system resources such as memory, CPU cycles, and database connections, leading to degraded performance, application unresponsiveness, or complete system failure. The resource consumption occurs at the application level where session objects are created and maintained, causing memory leaks and eventual exhaustion of available resources. This can result in cascading failures affecting other services running on the same platform, particularly in environments where multiple applications share the same server infrastructure. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous in high-traffic commerce environments where session management is critical for user experience and business operations.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should implement immediate mitigations including applying the vendor-provided security patches and updates, specifically the 7.0.0.6 release which addresses this issue. System administrators should also consider disabling persistent sessions or personalization features if they are not essential for business operations, though this may impact user experience and functionality. Network-level protections such as rate limiting and connection throttling can help mitigate the impact of resource exhaustion attacks by limiting the number of requests that can be processed within a given time period. Additionally, monitoring systems should be configured to detect unusual resource consumption patterns and alert administrators to potential exploitation attempts. From a compliance perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-400 which addresses unrestricted resource consumption, and could be categorized under ATT&CK technique T1499 for resource exhaustion attacks. Organizations should also consider implementing application firewalls and intrusion detection systems to monitor for suspicious session-related activities that might indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper session management and resource allocation controls in enterprise application platforms, particularly those handling sensitive user data and transactional information.