CVE-2013-0185 in ManageIQ Enterprise Virtualization Manager
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in ManageIQ Enterprise Virtualization Manager (EVM) allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of users for requests that have unspecified impact via unknown vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/01/2020
The CVE-2013-0185 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw discovered in ManageIQ Enterprise Virtualization Manager EVM platform. This vulnerability resides within the authentication and session management mechanisms of the virtualization management system, creating a pathway for remote attackers to manipulate user sessions without proper authorization. The issue specifically affects the enterprise virtualization manager component of the ManageIQ platform, which serves as a centralized management interface for virtualized environments. The unspecified impact vectors indicate that attackers could potentially perform various malicious actions through crafted requests that appear to originate from authenticated users, leveraging the trust relationship between the web application and legitimate users.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the absence of proper anti-CSRF token validation within the EVM's request processing pipeline. When users authenticate to the ManageIQ platform, their session becomes vulnerable to manipulation if the application fails to verify the authenticity of incoming requests through unique tokens or other validation mechanisms. This weakness allows attackers to craft malicious requests that exploit the trust relationship between the victim's browser and the EVM application, effectively hijacking authenticated sessions. The vulnerability operates at the web application layer, where the platform's security controls are insufficient to distinguish between legitimate user-initiated requests and those generated by malicious actors. The attack requires minimal privileges and can be executed remotely, making it particularly dangerous for enterprise environments where virtualization managers handle sensitive infrastructure management tasks.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple session hijacking, as it can potentially enable attackers to perform administrative actions within the virtualization environment. Since ManageIQ EVM manages enterprise virtualization infrastructure, successful exploitation could allow unauthorized individuals to modify virtual machine configurations, access sensitive data, or disrupt critical infrastructure operations. The unspecified impact vectors suggest that the vulnerability could facilitate various attack scenarios including privilege escalation, data manipulation, or service disruption. Organizations using the platform face significant risk as attackers could leverage this vulnerability to gain unauthorized access to virtualized environments, potentially compromising entire data center operations. The vulnerability's presence in the enterprise virtualization management layer means that successful exploitation could affect multiple virtual machines and associated resources under the management scope.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2013-0185 should prioritize immediate implementation of proper CSRF token validation mechanisms within the ManageIQ EVM platform. Organizations must ensure that all state-changing requests require unique, unpredictable tokens that are validated against user sessions before processing. The implementation should follow established security frameworks such as those recommended by the Open Web Application Security Project and align with CWE-352 standards for CSRF protection. Security controls should include automatic token generation for each user session, proper token validation at the application layer, and consistent enforcement across all endpoints. Additionally, organizations should implement comprehensive monitoring and logging of authentication-related activities to detect potential exploitation attempts. The platform administrators should also consider implementing additional security measures such as multi-factor authentication and network segmentation to reduce the attack surface. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be conducted to identify similar weaknesses in the virtualization management infrastructure and ensure that all security controls remain effective against evolving threats.