CVE-2014-1473 in Vulnerability Manager
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerabilities in the Enterprise Manager in McAfee Vulnerability Manager (MVM) 7.5.5 and earlier allow remote attackers to hijack the authentication of users for requests that modify HTML via unspecified vectors related to the "response web page."
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/09/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-1473 represents a critical cross-site request forgery weakness within McAfee Vulnerability Manager Enterprise Manager component. This flaw affects versions 7.5.5 and earlier, creating a significant security risk for organizations relying on this vulnerability management platform. The vulnerability specifically targets the response web page functionality, which serves as a critical interface for managing security responses and remediation activities. The CSRF vectors are described as unspecified, indicating that attackers can exploit multiple pathways to manipulate user sessions and execute unauthorized actions through carefully crafted malicious requests that leverage existing authenticated sessions.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient validation of cross-site requests within the Enterprise Manager's web interface. When users navigate to the response web page, the system fails to properly verify the origin of requests, allowing attackers to craft malicious web pages or links that can trigger unauthorized actions on behalf of authenticated users. This weakness enables attackers to perform actions such as modifying configuration settings, altering security policies, or executing administrative commands without requiring valid credentials. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery weaknesses in web applications. The attack vector leverages the trust relationship between the web application and the user's browser, exploiting the fact that browsers automatically include authentication cookies with requests to the target domain, regardless of the request source.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data manipulation, as it can enable attackers to compromise the entire security posture of organizations using McAfee Vulnerability Manager. An attacker who successfully exploits this CSRF vulnerability can hijack user sessions and potentially gain administrative privileges within the vulnerability management system. This access could allow for the modification of security policies, creation of backdoors, or the ability to bypass security controls that the system is designed to enforce. The consequences are particularly severe in enterprise environments where vulnerability managers serve as central points for security operations and policy enforcement. Organizations may experience unauthorized changes to their vulnerability assessment workflows, potentially leading to false negatives in security reporting or the deletion of critical vulnerability data. The vulnerability also creates opportunities for attackers to escalate privileges within the system, as the Enterprise Manager interface likely contains administrative functions that are accessible through the CSRF attack vector.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including the deployment of web application firewalls that can detect and block suspicious cross-site request patterns, along with the implementation of anti-CSRF tokens for all state-changing operations within the Enterprise Manager interface. The system should be upgraded to the latest available version of McAfee Vulnerability Manager where this vulnerability has been patched, following the vendor's security advisory. Network segmentation and access controls should be reviewed to limit exposure of the Enterprise Manager to untrusted networks. Security teams should also conduct comprehensive testing to identify any additional CSRF vulnerabilities within the system and ensure that proper input validation is implemented across all web interfaces. The remediation process should include monitoring for suspicious activities and implementing proper session management controls to prevent session hijacking attempts. Additionally, regular security assessments should be conducted to identify and address similar vulnerabilities in other enterprise security tools that may be susceptible to cross-site request forgery attacks, as outlined in the ATT&CK framework's techniques for credential access and privilege escalation.