CVE-2013-4056 in InfoSphere Information Server
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Data Quality Console and Information Analyzer components in IBM InfoSphere Information Server 8.7 through FP2 and 9.1 through 9.1.2.0 allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of arbitrary users.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/20/2018
The CVE-2013-4056 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw affecting IBM InfoSphere Information Server versions 8.7 through FP2 and 9.1 through 9.1.2.0. This vulnerability resides within the Data Quality Console and Information Analyzer components, which are integral parts of IBM's data integration and quality management platform. The flaw allows remote attackers to manipulate authenticated sessions by tricking users into executing unintended actions on the server without their knowledge or consent.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the absence of proper anti-CSRF tokens in the web application's user interface components. When users navigate to maliciously crafted web pages or click on compromised links, the attacker can leverage the victim's existing authenticated session to perform unauthorized operations within the InfoSphere Information Server environment. This occurs because the application fails to validate that requests originate from legitimate sources within the same session context, creating a fundamental authentication bypass mechanism.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is substantial for organizations utilizing IBM InfoSphere Information Server, as it enables attackers to perform privileged actions such as modifying data quality rules, accessing sensitive information, altering system configurations, or potentially executing arbitrary code within the application context. The vulnerability specifically targets the Data Quality Console which manages data quality assessments and the Information Analyzer which provides data analysis capabilities, making it particularly dangerous for data governance and integrity operations. Attackers could exploit this to compromise data integrity, access confidential information, or disrupt business-critical data processing workflows.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should immediately implement mitigations including the deployment of web application firewalls that can detect and block CSRF attacks, the implementation of proper anti-CSRF token mechanisms across all web forms and API endpoints, and the application of available vendor patches from IBM. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery weaknesses in software applications. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to techniques involving session management manipulation and credential reuse, potentially enabling lateral movement within the information server environment. Additionally, organizations should conduct comprehensive security assessments of their web applications to identify similar CSRF vulnerabilities in other components and ensure proper session management controls are implemented across their entire technology stack to prevent similar attacks.