CVE-2013-1160 in Prime Central for Hosted Collaboration Solution
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the OpenView web menus in Cisco Prime Central for Hosted Collaboration Solution allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via an unspecified parameter, aka Bug ID CSCud56743.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/26/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2013-1160 represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw within the OpenView web interface components of Cisco Prime Central for Hosted Collaboration Solution. This vulnerability exists in the web menu functionality of the Cisco Prime Central platform, which serves as a centralized management solution for hosted collaboration services. The flaw specifically affects the handling of user input within unspecified parameters, creating an avenue for malicious actors to execute arbitrary web scripts or HTML code within the context of authenticated user sessions. The vulnerability was catalogued under Bug ID CSCud56743, indicating its identification within Cisco's internal tracking systems and highlighting the severity of the issue within their product ecosystem.
The technical implementation of this XSS vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and output encoding mechanisms within the web menu components. When users interact with the OpenView web interface, the application fails to properly sanitize or escape user-supplied data before incorporating it into dynamically generated web content. This deficiency allows attackers to inject malicious payloads through the vulnerable parameter, which are then executed in the browsers of other users who access the affected web menus. The vulnerability's classification as a reflected XSS issue means that the malicious script is executed as part of a request to the web application, making it particularly dangerous as it can be delivered through various attack vectors including email links, malicious websites, or compromised third-party services.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data theft or session hijacking, as it can enable attackers to perform a wide range of malicious activities within the targeted environment. An attacker could potentially escalate privileges, access sensitive configuration data, modify user permissions, or even redirect users to malicious sites that could harvest additional credentials or deploy malware. Given that Cisco Prime Central serves as a management platform for collaboration solutions, successful exploitation could compromise the entire hosted collaboration infrastructure, affecting multiple users and services. The vulnerability's remote exploitability means that attackers do not require physical access to the network, making it particularly dangerous for organizations that rely on remote management capabilities. This type of vulnerability directly aligns with CWE-79 which defines cross-site scripting as a common weakness in web applications where user input is improperly filtered or escaped.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should implement immediate mitigations including applying the latest security patches provided by Cisco, implementing web application firewalls to detect and block malicious payloads, and conducting thorough security assessments of the affected web interfaces. Network segmentation and monitoring of web traffic can help detect exploitation attempts, while user education regarding suspicious links and website behavior can reduce successful social engineering attacks. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper input validation and output encoding as outlined in the OWASP Top Ten security principles, and highlights the need for comprehensive security testing of web applications. Organizations should also consider implementing Content Security Policies to limit the execution of unauthorized scripts and establish regular security audits to identify similar vulnerabilities in other components of their web infrastructure. This vulnerability serves as a reminder of the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date security practices and the potential consequences of insufficient input validation in enterprise web applications.