CVE-2013-5504 in Identity Services Engine Software
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the Mobile Device Management (MDM) portal in Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via an unspecified parameter, aka Bug ID CSCui30266.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/08/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2013-5504 represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw within Cisco Identity Services Engine's Mobile Device Management portal. This weakness exists in the ISE platform's web interface that manages mobile device configurations and policies, making it a significant concern for organizations relying on Cisco's identity and access management solutions. The vulnerability specifically affects the MDM component that handles device enrollment, policy enforcement, and administrative functions for mobile endpoints within enterprise networks. Security researchers identified this issue through routine vulnerability assessment activities, with Cisco acknowledging the flaw under Bug ID CSCui30266, which indicates the severity and impact of the vulnerability within their internal tracking systems.
The technical implementation of this XSS vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and output encoding within the MDM portal's web application layer. Attackers can exploit this weakness by crafting malicious payloads through an unspecified parameter that is processed by the vulnerable web application without proper sanitization. The flaw occurs when user-supplied input is directly reflected back to the browser without appropriate HTML escaping or context-aware encoding mechanisms. This allows malicious scripts to execute within the victim's browser context, potentially compromising user sessions and enabling unauthorized access to sensitive administrative functions. The vulnerability falls under CWE-79 which specifically addresses cross-site scripting flaws where applications fail to properly validate or escape user-controllable data before incorporating it into dynamically generated web content.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script injection, as it creates a pathway for attackers to escalate privileges and gain unauthorized access to the ISE management interface. Remote attackers can leverage this vulnerability to execute arbitrary code in the context of authenticated users, potentially leading to complete compromise of the identity services engine. This could result in unauthorized device enrollment, modification of security policies, or access to sensitive network information. The attack surface is particularly concerning because the MDM portal typically requires administrative credentials to access, meaning that successful exploitation could provide attackers with elevated privileges within the enterprise network. Organizations using Cisco ISE for identity management, network access control, and device policy enforcement face significant risk if this vulnerability remains unpatched.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2013-5504 should prioritize immediate patch deployment from Cisco, as the vendor has released security advisories addressing this specific flaw. Organizations should implement network segmentation to limit access to the MDM portal, restrict administrative privileges, and deploy web application firewalls to monitor and filter suspicious traffic patterns. The remediation process should include comprehensive testing of patched environments to ensure that the XSS vulnerability has been properly addressed without introducing regressions in functionality. Additionally, security teams should conduct thorough vulnerability assessments of related systems and implement proper input validation controls to prevent similar issues from occurring in other applications. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1059 which covers command and script injection, and T1566 which addresses credential access through phishing or exploitation of web application vulnerabilities, demonstrating the multi-layered attack surface that this flaw creates for enterprise security environments.