CVE-2014-0831 in Financial Transaction Manager
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the OAC component in IBM Financial Transaction Manager (FTM) 2.0 before 2.0.0.3 allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of arbitrary users for requests that modify configuration data.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/25/2018
The CVE-2014-0831 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw within the Oracle Application Controller (OAC) component of IBM Financial Transaction Manager version 2.0 prior to 2.0.0.3. This vulnerability operates at the web application level and specifically targets the authentication mechanisms that protect configuration data modifications within the financial transaction processing environment. The flaw enables remote attackers to exploit the trust relationship between the application and authenticated users, allowing unauthorized modification of critical system configurations without proper authorization.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the absence of proper anti-CSRF token validation within the OAC component's request processing pipeline. When legitimate users authenticate to the IBM FTM system, their session tokens are typically sufficient to validate requests for configuration changes. However, the vulnerability allows attackers to craft malicious requests that leverage the victim's existing authenticated session to perform unauthorized operations. This occurs because the system fails to validate the authenticity of the request origin, relying solely on session-based authentication without additional cryptographic proof of user intent. The vulnerability falls under CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery conditions where the application does not properly verify that requests originate from the same user who initiated the authenticated session.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data modification capabilities and represents a significant threat to financial transaction processing integrity. Attackers could potentially modify critical configuration parameters that govern transaction processing rules, user access controls, or financial processing workflows. This capability could lead to unauthorized financial transactions, data manipulation, or complete system compromise depending on the scope of accessible configuration options. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous in financial environments where configuration changes can directly impact transaction processing, compliance reporting, and overall system security posture. From an attacker perspective, the remote nature of this vulnerability means no local access is required, and the attack can be executed through social engineering techniques or by embedding malicious links in compromised websites.
The implications of this vulnerability align with several ATT&CK framework techniques including T1566 for social engineering attacks and T1071 for application layer protocol usage. The attack vector typically involves crafting malicious web pages or emails that automatically submit requests to the vulnerable IBM FTM system, exploiting the user's existing authenticated session. Organizations should implement comprehensive mitigation strategies including the deployment of anti-CSRF tokens for all state-changing operations, proper session management controls, and regular security assessments of web applications. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of implementing defense-in-depth strategies where multiple layers of protection work together to prevent unauthorized access and modification of sensitive financial data. Additionally, regular patch management processes become essential for maintaining security posture, as this vulnerability was addressed in version 2.0.0.3 of the IBM FTM product.