CVE-2014-0958 in WebSphere Portal
Summary
by MITRE
Open redirect vulnerability in IBM WebSphere Portal 6.1.0 through 6.1.0.6 CF27, 6.1.5 through 6.1.5.3 CF27, 7.0 through 7.0.0.2 CF28, and 8.0 before 8.0.0.1 CF12 allows remote attackers to redirect users to arbitrary web sites and conduct phishing attacks via unspecified vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/21/2022
The CVE-2014-0958 vulnerability represents a critical open redirect flaw within IBM WebSphere Portal software versions spanning multiple release lines including 6.1.0 through 6.1.0.6, 6.1.5 through 6.1.5.3, 7.0 through 7.0.0.2, and 8.0 before 8.0.0.1. This vulnerability falls under the CWE-601 open redirect weakness category, which specifically addresses situations where applications redirect users to external domains without proper validation. The flaw enables remote attackers to manipulate the portal's redirection functionality, creating a significant security risk for organizations utilizing these affected versions.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation within the portal's redirection mechanisms. Attackers can exploit this weakness by crafting malicious URLs that contain redirect parameters pointing to attacker-controlled domains. When users click on these manipulated links, the portal's authentication and authorization systems fail to properly verify the destination URLs, allowing seamless redirection to phishing sites or malicious content. The unspecified vectors mentioned in the description suggest that multiple entry points within the portal's architecture could be exploited, potentially including login pages, navigation menus, and various web forms that utilize redirect functionality.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple phishing attacks, as it can facilitate more sophisticated social engineering campaigns and credential theft operations. Organizations using affected WebSphere Portal versions face significant risks including unauthorized access to corporate networks through credential harvesting, data exfiltration, and potential lateral movement within their infrastructure. The vulnerability particularly affects enterprises that rely heavily on web portal solutions for internal communications and user authentication, as attackers can leverage the trusted portal environment to bypass security controls. This threat is exacerbated by the fact that the vulnerability affects multiple major versions, indicating a fundamental design flaw rather than a simple patchable issue.
Security professionals should implement immediate mitigations including input validation for all redirect parameters, implementation of allowlists for permitted domains, and deployment of web application firewalls to monitor and block suspicious redirect traffic. Organizations must also conduct comprehensive vulnerability assessments to identify all instances of the affected software and apply the appropriate vendor patches as soon as possible. The remediation process should include thorough testing to ensure that security measures do not inadvertently break legitimate portal functionality while maintaining the integrity of user authentication flows. Additionally, security awareness training should be enhanced to educate users about recognizing phishing attempts that may exploit this vulnerability, as the attack vectors can be particularly convincing when leveraging trusted portal environments. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566 for phishing and T1071 for application layer protocol usage, making it a critical concern for organizations implementing comprehensive threat detection and response strategies.