CVE-2014-0637 in Adaptive Authentication
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the back-office case-management application in RSA Adaptive Authentication (On-Premise) 6.x and 7.x before 7.1 SP0 P2 allows remote authenticated users to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via unspecified vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/09/2026
The CVE-2014-0637 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw within RSA Adaptive Authentication's back-office case-management application, affecting versions 6.x and 7.x prior to 7.1 SP0 P2. This vulnerability resides in the authentication and access control system that organizations rely upon to manage user sessions and security cases, making it particularly dangerous as it targets the administrative interface where sensitive security operations are conducted. The flaw allows authenticated attackers to inject malicious scripts into the application's response, potentially compromising the security posture of the entire authentication infrastructure.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and output encoding within the case management application's backend processing. Attackers who have already gained legitimate authentication credentials can exploit this weakness to inject arbitrary web scripts or HTML content into the application's responses. This occurs through unspecified vectors that likely involve parameters or data fields within the case management workflow where user input is not properly sanitized before being rendered back to the browser. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and leverages the trust relationship between the authenticated user and the system, making detection and prevention more challenging. According to CWE classification, this vulnerability maps to CWE-79 which specifically addresses Cross-Site Scripting flaws in web applications.
The operational impact of CVE-2014-0637 extends beyond simple script injection, as it provides attackers with the capability to perform session hijacking, steal administrative credentials, and potentially escalate privileges within the authentication system. An attacker could craft malicious cases or modify existing ones to include script payloads that execute in the context of other administrators' browsers, potentially leading to complete compromise of the authentication infrastructure. The vulnerability affects organizations using RSA Adaptive Authentication in on-premise deployments, which typically includes enterprises managing their own security infrastructure rather than relying on cloud-based services. This creates a particularly concerning scenario where attackers with legitimate access can leverage the administrative interface to undermine the very security controls they should be managing.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate patch application to update RSA Adaptive Authentication to version 7.1 SP0 P2 or later, which contains the necessary fixes for the XSS vulnerability. Organizations should also implement additional security measures including enhanced input validation, output encoding, and regular security assessments of their authentication systems. Network segmentation and monitoring of administrative interfaces can help detect anomalous behavior that might indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1059.007 for script injection and T1566 for credential access, highlighting the multi-faceted nature of the threat. Security teams should conduct thorough vulnerability assessments to ensure no other similar issues exist within the authentication infrastructure and implement proper access controls to limit the scope of potential damage from authenticated attackers.