CVE-2014-2115 in Emergency Responder
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerabilities in CERUserServlet pages in Cisco Emergency Responder (ER) 8.6 and earlier allow remote attackers to hijack the authentication of arbitrary users, aka Bug ID CSCun24250.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/09/2026
Cisco Emergency Responder version 8.6 and earlier contains multiple cross-site request forgery vulnerabilities within the CERUserServlet pages that enable remote attackers to hijack user authentications. These vulnerabilities arise from the absence of proper anti-CSRF mechanisms in the web application's user management interfaces. The flaw allows attackers to craft malicious requests that can be executed by authenticated users without their knowledge or consent, effectively bypassing the authentication process.
The technical implementation of these CSRF vulnerabilities stems from the lack of anti-CSRF tokens in the CERUserServlet pages. When users navigate to these pages, the application does not validate that requests originate from legitimate sources within the same session context. This absence of validation creates a pathway for attackers to exploit the authentication state of authenticated users. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it affects the core user management functionality of the Emergency Responder system, which is designed to handle critical emergency communications scenarios where unauthorized access could have severe operational consequences.
The operational impact of these CSRF vulnerabilities extends beyond simple privilege escalation. Attackers can leverage these flaws to modify user accounts, change authentication credentials, or perform administrative actions within the Emergency Responder environment. Given that Cisco Emergency Responder is typically deployed in mission-critical environments such as emergency services, healthcare facilities, and government agencies, the potential for operational disruption or security breaches is significant. The vulnerabilities could enable attackers to gain unauthorized access to emergency communication systems, potentially compromising life-saving response capabilities.
From a cybersecurity perspective, these vulnerabilities align with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery weaknesses in web applications. The flaw also maps to ATT&CK technique T1566, which covers phishing and social engineering tactics that can be used to deliver CSRF payloads. The lack of proper input validation and session management controls in the CERUserServlet components creates an attack surface that adversaries can exploit to establish persistent access within the emergency responder infrastructure. Organizations using vulnerable versions of Cisco Emergency Responder should prioritize immediate patching and implementation of additional security controls to protect against these attacks.
The exploitation of these CSRF vulnerabilities requires minimal technical expertise, making them particularly dangerous as they can be leveraged by threat actors with varying skill levels. The attack vector typically involves sending crafted HTTP requests to the vulnerable servlet endpoints, which then execute with the privileges of authenticated users. This characteristic makes the vulnerabilities particularly attractive to attackers seeking to maintain long-term access to critical infrastructure systems without requiring direct user interaction or complex exploitation techniques. Organizations should implement comprehensive monitoring and logging of user management activities to detect potential exploitation attempts and establish robust patch management processes to address similar vulnerabilities in other components of their emergency response systems.