CVE-2014-0168 in Jolokia
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Jolokia before 1.2.1 allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of users for requests that execute MBeans methods via a crafted web page.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/29/2022
The CVE-2014-0168 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw in the Jolokia Java agent software, which serves as a bridge between JMX and HTTP protocols for monitoring and management purposes. This vulnerability affects Jolokia versions prior to 1.2.1 and exposes systems that rely on Jolokia for remote management and monitoring to significant security risks. The flaw specifically enables remote attackers to manipulate authenticated sessions by crafting malicious web pages that can execute arbitrary MBean methods on behalf of authenticated users without their knowledge or consent.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from Jolokia's insufficient validation of request origins and lack of proper anti-CSRF token mechanisms within its HTTP endpoints. When a user accesses a malicious webpage while maintaining an active Jolokia session, the attacker's page can automatically submit requests to the Jolokia agent that execute MBean operations with the user's existing authentication credentials. This occurs because Jolokia relies on session-based authentication and does not implement robust CSRF protection measures such as synchronizer tokens or origin validation checks that would normally prevent unauthorized request submission from third-party domains.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple privilege escalation, as it allows attackers to execute arbitrary code through MBean method invocations that can potentially modify system configurations, access sensitive data, or even compromise underlying application servers. MBean operations often provide direct access to runtime information, configuration parameters, and system management functions that can be leveraged for further attacks, including privilege escalation, data exfiltration, or system compromise. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where Jolokia is used for monitoring critical infrastructure, as it can enable attackers to gain unauthorized access to sensitive operational data and system controls.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should immediately upgrade to Jolokia version 1.2.1 or later, which includes proper CSRF protection mechanisms. Additional mitigations include implementing network-level restrictions to limit access to Jolokia endpoints, deploying web application firewalls to detect and block suspicious requests, and configuring authentication mechanisms that require additional layers of verification beyond session cookies. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery weaknesses in web applications, and corresponds to ATT&CK technique T1059.007 for command and scripting interpreter, as attackers can leverage the MBean execution capabilities to run malicious commands on target systems. Security teams should also conduct comprehensive audits of all Jolokia deployments to identify and remediate similar vulnerabilities in related monitoring and management tools across their infrastructure.