CVE-2014-0140 in Cloudforms 3.0 Management Engine
Summary
by MITRE
Red Hat CloudForms 3.1 Management Engine (CFME) before 5.3 allows remote authenticated users to access sensitive controllers and actions via a direct HTTP or HTTPS request.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/21/2025
The vulnerability described in CVE-2014-0140 represents a significant authorization flaw within Red Hat CloudForms Management Engine version 3.1 and earlier releases. This issue affects the CFME platform version 5.3 and below, which is a comprehensive cloud management solution designed to provide unified management of hybrid cloud environments. The vulnerability stems from inadequate access control mechanisms that fail to properly validate user permissions when processing HTTP or HTTPS requests. Attackers with valid authentication credentials can exploit this weakness to bypass normal authorization checks and gain access to restricted controllers and actions within the application's architecture.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves a failure in the application's permission validation system where direct requests to specific endpoints bypass the normal authentication flow. This flaw allows authenticated users to manipulate HTTP requests to access resources that should be restricted based on user roles and privileges. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it operates at the application layer where access controls should enforce strict boundaries between different user roles and system functionalities. The issue manifests when legitimate users attempt to access sensitive administrative or operational controllers that contain critical system management functions, configuration data, or monitoring capabilities.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability creates a serious risk for organizations using Red Hat CloudForms Management Engine in production environments. An attacker who has obtained valid user credentials can escalate their privileges to access sensitive system components without additional authorization checks. This could potentially lead to unauthorized system configuration changes, data manipulation, or access to confidential information within the cloud management platform. The vulnerability undermines the principle of least privilege by allowing users to access resources beyond their intended scope, potentially enabling lateral movement within the system and access to other connected services or data repositories.
The flaw aligns with CWE-285, which addresses improper authorization issues in software applications, and can be mapped to ATT&CK technique T1078 for valid accounts and T1566 for social engineering or credential compromise. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including updating to Red Hat CloudForms Management Engine version 5.3 or later, which contains the necessary patches to address this authorization bypass. Additional security measures should include network segmentation, implementing web application firewalls, and conducting regular access control reviews. The vulnerability highlights the importance of proper input validation and access control implementation in enterprise management platforms, particularly those handling sensitive infrastructure management functions. Organizations should also consider implementing additional monitoring and logging mechanisms to detect unauthorized access attempts to sensitive controllers and actions within their cloud management environments.