CVE-2012-4592 in Enterprise Mobility Manager
Summary
by MITRE
The Portal in McAfee Enterprise Mobility Manager (EMM) before 10.0 does not set the secure flag for the ASP.NET session cookie in an https session, which makes it easier for remote attackers to capture this cookie by intercepting its transmission within an http session.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/24/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2012-4592 affects McAfee Enterprise Mobility Manager (EMM) version 10.0 and earlier, representing a critical security flaw in the session management implementation of the web portal component. This issue stems from the improper configuration of session cookies that are essential for maintaining user authentication state within web applications. The vulnerability specifically impacts the secure transmission of session identifiers between client and server components, creating an exploitable condition that undermines the integrity of the authentication mechanism.
The technical flaw manifests in the Portal component of McAfee EMM where the ASP.NET session cookie lacks the secure flag when transmitted over HTTPS connections. This misconfiguration allows the session cookie to be transmitted without proper encryption safeguards, making it susceptible to interception during network traffic analysis. The secure flag is a critical HTTP cookie attribute that instructs web browsers to only transmit the cookie over secure HTTPS connections, preventing its exposure in plaintext during transmission. Without this flag, the cookie becomes vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks and network eavesdropping, particularly when users access the portal through unsecured HTTP connections or when network traffic is intercepted during transmission.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple credential theft, as it provides attackers with a pathway to establish persistent unauthorized access to the EMM portal and potentially escalate privileges within the mobile device management environment. This weakness enables attackers to capture session cookies through various interception techniques including packet sniffing, network monitoring, and proxy-based attacks, allowing them to impersonate legitimate users and gain access to sensitive mobile device management functionalities. The vulnerability is particularly concerning in enterprise environments where EMM solutions manage critical mobile device configurations, user data, and security policies, as compromised session cookies could lead to complete administrative control over the mobile device management infrastructure.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should implement immediate mitigations including updating to McAfee EMM version 10.0 or later, which contains the necessary patches to properly configure the secure flag for ASP.NET session cookies. Security administrators should also review and enforce proper HTTPS implementation across all portal components, ensuring that all session cookies are configured with the secure flag attribute. Network security controls should be enhanced to detect and prevent unauthorized access attempts, while monitoring systems should be configured to identify suspicious network traffic patterns that may indicate cookie interception attempts. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-614, which specifically addresses the insecure transmission of session cookies, and represents a key entry point for attackers following ATT&CK technique T1566, which focuses on credential access through network sniffing and interception methods. The remediation process should include comprehensive security testing to verify that all session cookies are properly configured with secure flags and that the portal operates exclusively over encrypted connections to prevent similar vulnerabilities in future deployments.