CVE-2014-2644 in Systems Insight Manager
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in HP Systems Insight Manager (SIM) before 7.4 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via unknown vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/29/2022
The CVE-2014-2644 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw discovered in Hewlett Packard's Systems Insight Manager software prior to version 7.4. This vulnerability falls under the CWE-79 category of Cross-Site Scripting and specifically affects the web-based administrative interface of HP SIM, which is widely used for monitoring and managing enterprise server infrastructure. The vulnerability exists within the application's handling of user input and output sanitization mechanisms, creating an exploitable condition that enables malicious actors to inject arbitrary web scripts or HTML content into the application's response.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through unknown vectors that likely involve improper validation or sanitization of input parameters within the web interface. Attackers can leverage this weakness to execute malicious scripts in the context of other users' browsers, potentially leading to session hijacking, data theft, or unauthorized administrative actions. The vulnerability's impact is particularly severe because HP SIM is commonly deployed in enterprise environments where it serves as a central management platform for critical infrastructure components, making it an attractive target for sophisticated attackers who may seek to escalate privileges or gain persistent access to network resources.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability creates significant risk for organizations relying on HP SIM for system monitoring and management. The remote nature of the attack means that threat actors can exploit the vulnerability from external networks without requiring physical access or prior authentication within the target environment. This characteristic aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566 for initial access through web application attacks and potentially T1078 for legitimate credentials use if session hijacking occurs. Organizations may experience unauthorized access to sensitive system information, potential disruption of monitoring capabilities, and compromise of the integrity of the management interface.
The mitigation strategy for CVE-2014-2644 primarily involves upgrading to HP Systems Insight Manager version 7.4 or later, which includes proper input validation and output encoding mechanisms to prevent XSS attacks. Organizations should also implement additional defensive measures including web application firewalls, regular security assessments of the management interface, and network segmentation to limit potential attack surfaces. Security teams should conduct thorough vulnerability assessments to identify any other applications or interfaces that may be vulnerable to similar XSS conditions, as the flaw likely indicates broader input validation issues within the application. The remediation process should also include user education regarding safe browsing practices and the importance of keeping management interfaces updated with the latest security patches, as outlined in industry best practices for maintaining secure web applications and protecting enterprise infrastructure from common web-based attack vectors.