CVE-2014-2152 in Prime Infrastructure
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the INSERT page in Cisco Prime Infrastructure (PI) allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of arbitrary users, aka Bug ID CSCun21868.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/16/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-2152 represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw discovered in Cisco Prime Infrastructure version 2.0 and earlier releases. This weakness resides within the INSERT page functionality of the network management platform, which is widely deployed for monitoring and managing Cisco network infrastructure. The vulnerability enables remote attackers to manipulate authenticated sessions by tricking users into executing unintended actions without their knowledge or consent. The bug was catalogued under Cisco bug ID CSCun21868, highlighting its significance within the organization's security tracking systems.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the absence of proper validation mechanisms for requests originating from the INSERT page functionality. When users navigate to the affected page, the application fails to verify the authenticity of requests through the inclusion of anti-CSRF tokens or other protective measures. Attackers can craft malicious web pages or exploit existing network vulnerabilities to submit forged requests that appear legitimate to the targeted system. These forged requests can leverage the victim's authenticated session to perform unauthorized operations such as modifying configurations, creating new user accounts, or accessing sensitive network data.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends significantly beyond simple session hijacking, as it compromises the fundamental integrity of the network management system. An attacker who successfully exploits this weakness could potentially gain unauthorized access to critical network infrastructure controls, modify network configurations, or escalate privileges within the Prime Infrastructure environment. The vulnerability affects the entire user base of affected Cisco Prime Infrastructure deployments, making it particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where network administrators rely heavily on the platform for system management. This flaw undermines the trust model of the application and exposes organizations to potential network disruption, data breaches, or unauthorized access to sensitive infrastructure information.
Mitigation strategies for this CSRF vulnerability should prioritize immediate implementation of proper anti-CSRF token mechanisms throughout the affected application components. Organizations should ensure that all interactive pages, particularly those handling sensitive operations like INSERT functionality, require the inclusion of unique, unpredictable tokens that are validated on each request. The implementation should follow established security frameworks such as CWE-352, which specifically addresses cross-site request forgery vulnerabilities. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing Content Security Policy headers, enforcing same-site cookie attributes, and conducting regular security assessments to identify similar weaknesses in other application components. The vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1531, which focuses on establishing persistence through modifications to network infrastructure, making it a critical target for immediate remediation efforts.