CVE-2014-3092 in Rational Rhapsody Design Manager
Summary
by MITRE
IBM Jazz Team Server, as used in Rational Collaborative Lifecycle Management; Rational Quality Manager 3.x before 3.0.1.6 iFix 3, 4.x before 4.0.7, and 5.x before 5.0.1; and other Rational products, does not set the secure flag for the session cookie in an https session, which makes it easier for remote attackers to capture this cookie by intercepting its transmission within an http session.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/29/2022
The vulnerability described in CVE-2014-3092 represents a critical security flaw in IBM Jazz Team Server and related Rational collaboration products that affects session management protocols. This weakness specifically targets the handling of session cookies within HTTPS connections, creating an exploitable condition that undermines the security of authenticated user sessions. The vulnerability exists in multiple versions of Rational Collaborative Lifecycle Management, Rational Quality Manager, and other Rational products, making it a widespread concern across IBM's collaboration platform ecosystem. The flaw allows attackers to capture session cookies through man-in-the-middle attacks or network interception techniques, potentially compromising user authentication and access to sensitive project data.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the improper configuration of session cookies within secure HTTPS connections. When a user authenticates to the IBM Jazz Team Server, the system should set the secure flag on session cookies to ensure they are only transmitted over encrypted connections. However, in affected versions, this flag is omitted even when HTTPS is being used, creating a scenario where session identifiers can be transmitted in plaintext over unencrypted HTTP connections. This misconfiguration violates fundamental security principles for session management and allows attackers to intercept session cookies during transmission, effectively enabling session hijacking attacks. The vulnerability directly relates to CWE-614, which addresses the improper storage of sensitive information in cookies, and represents a failure in implementing proper secure cookie attributes that are standard practice in modern web security frameworks.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple session theft to encompass potential data breaches and unauthorized access to collaborative development environments. Attackers who successfully intercept session cookies can impersonate legitimate users and gain access to sensitive project information, test data, and collaborative workspaces within Rational Quality Manager and other connected systems. This compromise particularly affects organizations using these tools for managing software development lifecycles, as it could lead to unauthorized modifications of requirements, test cases, and quality management processes. The vulnerability is especially dangerous in environments where network traffic is not properly secured or where users might inadvertently access systems through unencrypted connections, creating multiple attack vectors for exploitation.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should implement immediate mitigations including applying the available iFixes and patches released by IBM for Rational Quality Manager 3.x, 4.x, and 5.x versions. The recommended remediation involves ensuring that all session cookies are properly configured with the secure flag when transmitted over HTTPS connections, which aligns with security best practices outlined in the OWASP Secure Coding Guidelines. System administrators should also consider implementing additional network security measures such as enforcing HTTPS-only access, monitoring for suspicious network traffic patterns, and conducting regular security assessments of collaborative platforms. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper cookie security configuration and highlights the need for comprehensive security testing of authentication mechanisms within enterprise collaboration systems. Organizations should also review their network security policies to prevent mixed-content scenarios where HTTPS sessions might inadvertently fall back to HTTP transmission, which could expose the system to this specific attack vector.