CVE-2013-0505 in Sterling Selling And Fulfillment Foundation
Summary
by MITRE
IBM Sterling Order Management 8.0 before HF127, 8.5 before HF89, 9.0 before HF69, 9.1.0 before FP41, and 9.2.0 before FP13 allows remote authenticated users to conduct XPath injection attacks, and read arbitrary XML files, via unspecified vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/08/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2013-0505 affects IBM Sterling Order Management software across multiple versions including 8.0 through 9.2.0, specifically before certain hotfixes and fix packs were applied. This represents a critical security flaw that enables authenticated remote attackers to exploit XPath injection techniques, fundamentally compromising the system's data integrity and confidentiality. The vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation within the application's XML processing mechanisms, creating a pathway for malicious actors to manipulate XML queries and extract sensitive information from the system's file structure.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves XPath injection attacks that leverage improperly sanitized user inputs within XML processing functions. When authenticated users submit crafted XPath expressions through unspecified vectors, the system fails to properly validate or escape these inputs before processing them against XML data structures. This flaw allows attackers to construct malicious XPath queries that can traverse the XML document tree and access arbitrary XML files stored within the application's file system. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and requires authentication credentials to exploit, making it particularly dangerous as it can be leveraged by insiders or compromised accounts.
From an operational perspective, the impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data theft to encompass potential system compromise and business disruption. Attackers can utilize this vulnerability to extract sensitive configuration files, user credentials, order data, and other proprietary information stored in XML format. The ability to read arbitrary XML files provides attackers with comprehensive access to the application's internal data structures and potentially exposes sensitive business information. The vulnerability's presence across multiple versions of IBM Sterling Order Management indicates a widespread issue that could affect numerous enterprise environments handling order processing and management. Organizations using these vulnerable versions face significant risk of data breaches and compliance violations, particularly in regulated industries where order management systems contain sensitive customer and transactional data.
Organizations should immediately implement mitigations including applying the appropriate hotfixes and fix packs released by IBM to address this vulnerability. The recommended approach involves upgrading to versions that include the security patches specifically designed to prevent XPath injection attacks in XML processing components. Network segmentation and access controls should be strengthened to limit the attack surface, while monitoring systems should be enhanced to detect unusual XML query patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. Security teams should also conduct comprehensive vulnerability assessments to identify any potential unauthorized access or data exfiltration that may have occurred prior to patching. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-645, which describes improper neutralization of data within XML, and represents a significant concern under the ATT&CK framework's data extraction techniques, particularly in the context of enterprise order management systems.