CVE-2013-2992 in WebSphere Commerce
Summary
by MITRE
The Search component in IBM WebSphere Commerce 7.0 FP4 through FP6, in certain search-term association configurations, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service via a crafted query.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/22/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2013-2992 affects IBM WebSphere Commerce versions 7.0 with fix packs FP4 through FP6, specifically within the Search component when certain search-term association configurations are in place. This issue represents a denial of service vulnerability that can be exploited by remote attackers through the submission of crafted search queries. The flaw resides in how the system processes specific search term associations, creating a condition where malformed input can trigger unexpected behavior leading to service disruption.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation within the search processing pipeline of WebSphere Commerce. When users submit search queries that contain specific patterns or malformed data structures, the system fails to properly sanitize or handle these inputs, resulting in a cascade of processing errors. The vulnerability manifests particularly when search-term associations are configured in certain ways, suggesting that the flaw is not universal but rather depends on specific configuration parameters that govern how search terms are processed and related to each other within the commerce platform's indexing and retrieval mechanisms.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability presents a significant risk to e-commerce platforms that rely on WebSphere Commerce for their search functionality. Remote attackers can exploit this weakness to disrupt search services, potentially affecting customer experience and business operations. The denial of service condition can render the search feature completely inoperative, preventing customers from finding products, which directly impacts sales conversion rates and overall platform availability. In high-traffic commerce environments, such an attack could lead to substantial financial losses and damage to brand reputation.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-400, which categorizes the issue as an Uncontrolled Resource Consumption or DoS condition, and relates to ATT&CK technique T1499.1, specifically targeting the availability of services through resource exhaustion or system disruption. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying the relevant IBM security patches and fix packs, reviewing and hardening search-term association configurations, and implementing input validation controls. Network-level protections such as web application firewalls can provide additional layers of defense, while monitoring systems should be configured to detect unusual search query patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. Regular security assessments of the commerce platform's search functionality are essential to identify and remediate similar vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by malicious actors.