CVE-2012-5308 in Lotus Notes Traveler
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in servlet/traveler in IBM Lotus Notes Traveler through 8.5.3.3 Interim Fix 1 allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of arbitrary users for requests that create problem reports via a getReportProblem upload action.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/09/2018
The CVE-2012-5308 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw within IBM Lotus Notes Traveler version 8.5.3.3 Interim Fix 1 and earlier releases. This vulnerability resides in the servlet/traveler component of the Lotus Notes Traveler application, which serves as a mobile email synchronization service for IBM Domino servers. The flaw specifically affects the getReportProblem upload action that handles problem report submissions, creating a dangerous attack surface where malicious actors can exploit the lack of proper authentication verification mechanisms.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from insufficient validation of the origin and authenticity of requests made to the getReportProblem endpoint. When a legitimate user interacts with the Lotus Notes Traveler web interface, the application should verify that requests originate from authorized sources and contain proper authentication tokens. However, the vulnerability allows remote attackers to craft malicious requests that appear to come from authenticated users, effectively hijacking their authentication context. This occurs because the servlet fails to implement proper anti-CSRF token validation or referer header checking mechanisms that would normally prevent unauthorized request execution.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant for organizations relying on IBM Lotus Notes Traveler for mobile email synchronization. Attackers can leverage this flaw to submit malicious problem reports on behalf of arbitrary users, potentially leading to unauthorized system modifications, data exposure, or service disruption. The vulnerability particularly affects environments where Lotus Notes Traveler is configured to accept problem reports from mobile devices, as these endpoints become accessible to malicious actors who can construct crafted requests to exploit the authentication bypass. This creates a vector for privilege escalation and unauthorized access to sensitive organizational data through the mobile email infrastructure.
Organizations should implement multiple layers of defense to mitigate this vulnerability. The primary recommendation involves applying the official IBM security patches and interim fixes released for this vulnerability, as IBM would have addressed the missing CSRF protection mechanisms in subsequent updates. Network segmentation and access controls should be implemented to restrict direct access to the servlet/traveler endpoints from untrusted networks. Additionally, implementing proper anti-CSRF token mechanisms within the web application framework would prevent unauthorized request execution, while monitoring and logging of problem report submissions would help detect potential exploitation attempts. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery weaknesses, and represents a typical ATT&CK technique categorized under privilege escalation and initial access vectors. Organizations should also consider implementing web application firewalls and security monitoring solutions to detect and prevent exploitation attempts targeting this specific endpoint.