CVE-2012-3333 in Maximo Asset Management
Summary
by MITRE
CRLF injection vulnerability in IBM Maximo Asset Management 7.x before 7.5.0.6 and SmartCloud Control Desk 7.x before 7.5.0.3 and 7.5.1.x before 7.5.1.2 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary HTTP headers and conduct HTTP response splitting attacks via a crafted parameter in a URL.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/22/2022
The CVE-2012-3333 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site scripting and HTTP response splitting flaw affecting IBM Maximo Asset Management and SmartCloud Control Desk products. This vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation mechanisms within the web application's parameter handling processes, specifically when processing URL parameters containing carriage return line feed sequences. The flaw exists in versions prior to 7.5.0.6 for Maximo and 7.5.0.3 for SmartCloud Control Desk, as well as in 7.5.1.x versions before 7.5.1.2, indicating a prolonged period during which organizations remained exposed to this security risk. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-113, which specifically addresses improper neutralization of CRLF characters within HTTP headers, making it a direct descendant of well-known HTTP header injection vulnerabilities that have plagued web applications for decades. Attackers can exploit this weakness by crafting malicious URLs containing CRLF sequences that, when processed by the vulnerable application, result in the injection of arbitrary HTTP headers into response messages.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability enables attackers to perform HTTP response splitting attacks, where a single request can generate multiple HTTP responses, effectively allowing the attacker to manipulate the web server's response behavior. When a malicious parameter containing CRLF characters is submitted to the vulnerable application, the application fails to properly sanitize or encode these sequences before incorporating them into HTTP headers. This allows attackers to inject additional headers such as Set-Cookie, Location, or Content-Type, potentially redirecting users to malicious sites, injecting malicious content, or manipulating session handling mechanisms. The vulnerability's impact extends beyond simple header injection, as it can be leveraged to create more sophisticated attacks including session hijacking, cross-site scripting, and cache poisoning. The flaw operates at the application layer of the OSI model, specifically within the HTTP protocol implementation, making it particularly dangerous as it can be exploited through standard web browser interactions without requiring specialized tools or deep technical knowledge.
Organizations running affected versions of IBM Maximo Asset Management or SmartCloud Control Desk face significant operational risks from this vulnerability, as it can be exploited remotely without requiring authentication or privileged access. The impact is particularly severe for asset management systems that handle sensitive operational data, as attackers could potentially manipulate the application's behavior to exfiltrate information, alter asset records, or disrupt business processes. The vulnerability's exploitation can lead to unauthorized access to system resources, data manipulation, and potential system compromise, especially when combined with other vulnerabilities or attack vectors. Security teams must recognize that this flaw can be used to establish persistent access to the application environment, as attackers can inject malicious headers that redirect users to phishing sites or inject malicious scripts. The vulnerability's presence in widely used enterprise asset management platforms means that organizations may be exposed to supply chain attacks or targeted exploitation by threat actors seeking to compromise critical infrastructure management systems.
The recommended mitigations for CVE-2012-3333 involve immediate application of vendor-provided security patches and updates to versions that address the CRLF injection vulnerability. Organizations should implement comprehensive input validation and sanitization measures, ensuring that all user-supplied parameters are properly encoded before being processed or included in HTTP responses. The implementation of web application firewalls and security monitoring tools can help detect and prevent exploitation attempts, while regular security assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to verify the effectiveness of implemented controls. Additionally, organizations should establish secure coding practices that prevent CRLF sequences from being processed in HTTP headers, including the use of proper header validation mechanisms and the implementation of security libraries that automatically handle header encoding. The vulnerability's classification under the ATT&CK framework as part of the credential access and command and control tactics emphasizes the need for layered defensive measures, including network segmentation, access controls, and continuous monitoring of application logs for signs of exploitation attempts. Regular security awareness training for administrators and developers is also essential to ensure proper handling of input validation and to prevent similar vulnerabilities from being introduced in future development cycles.