CVE-2013-6945 in VistA
Summary
by MITRE
The M2M Broker in OSEHRA VistA, as distributed before September 30, 2013, allows attackers to bypass authentication and authorization to perform doctor-only actions and read or modify patient records via unspecified vectors related to a "logic flaw."
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/26/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2013-6945 affects the Mobile-to-Mobile M2M Broker component within the OSEHRA VistA healthcare information system, representing a critical security weakness that existed in versions distributed prior to September 30, 2013. This flaw specifically targets the authentication and authorization mechanisms that govern access to sensitive medical data and clinical functions within the VistA system. The M2M Broker serves as a communication interface facilitating machine-to-machine interactions between various healthcare applications and systems, making it a crucial component for data exchange and operational workflows in healthcare environments.
The technical flaw manifests as a logic error within the authentication and authorization processing within the M2M Broker implementation, allowing unauthorized actors to bypass established security controls. This logic flaw enables attackers to escalate their privileges and gain access to functionalities that should be restricted to authorized medical professionals only. The vulnerability specifically permits unauthorized access to doctor-only actions and provides the capability to read or modify patient medical records without proper authentication. The unspecified vectors suggest that the flaw could be exploited through multiple attack pathways within the M2M communication framework, potentially including malformed requests, improper session handling, or flawed access control checks.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe within healthcare environments where patient data confidentiality and integrity are paramount. An attacker exploiting this flaw could potentially access sensitive patient medical histories, modify treatment records, or perform clinical actions that could directly impact patient care and safety. The ability to bypass authentication for doctor-only functions represents a significant escalation of privileges that could lead to medical identity theft, unauthorized treatment decisions, or deliberate harm to patient records. This vulnerability particularly threatens the integrity of healthcare data management systems where access controls are essential for maintaining compliance with healthcare regulations such as HIPAA and other data protection standards.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-284, which addresses improper access control issues, and demonstrates characteristics consistent with ATT&CK technique T1078 for valid accounts and T1566 for social engineering, though the specific exploitation vectors remain unspecified. Organizations using affected versions of OSEHRA VistA should implement immediate mitigations including updating to versions released after September 30, 2013, which contain the necessary authentication and authorization fixes. Network segmentation and monitoring of M2M communication channels should be implemented to detect unauthorized access attempts, while regular security assessments of healthcare information systems should be conducted to identify similar logic flaws. The vulnerability underscores the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date healthcare IT systems and implementing robust access control mechanisms in environments handling sensitive medical data, as failures in these controls can have serious consequences for patient safety and data protection compliance.