CVE-2014-3280 in Unified Communications Domain Manager
Summary
by MITRE
The web framework in VOSS in Cisco Unified Communications Domain Manager (CDM) 9.0(.1) and earlier does not properly implement access control, which allows remote authenticated users to obtain potentially sensitive user information by visiting an unspecified Administration GUI web page, aka Bug IDs CSCun46045 and CSCun46116.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/22/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-3280 affects the web framework component within Cisco Unified Communications Domain Manager version 9.0(.1) and earlier releases. This issue represents a critical access control flaw that undermines the security posture of the unified communications infrastructure. The vulnerability specifically targets the Administration GUI web interface, which serves as the primary management portal for configuring and monitoring the communications domain. The flaw enables authenticated attackers to bypass intended security restrictions and access sensitive user information through direct navigation to specific web pages within the administrative interface.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from improper access control mechanisms within the web framework layer of the CDM software. When users authenticate to the system, the application fails to properly validate their authorization levels for specific administrative functions. This misconfiguration allows authenticated users to traverse to pages that should be restricted to higher-privilege administrators. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and leverages the existing authentication mechanism to escalate privileges within the web interface, rather than requiring additional exploitation techniques. The unspecified nature of the target GUI page suggests that the flaw affects multiple administrative endpoints within the framework, potentially exposing various types of sensitive user data including configuration details, user accounts, and system parameters.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple information disclosure, as it provides attackers with access to potentially sensitive user information that could be leveraged for further attacks. The ability to access administrative GUI pages without proper authorization creates opportunities for privilege escalation, data exfiltration, and system compromise. Attackers could potentially obtain credentials, system configurations, user account details, and other sensitive information that would normally be restricted to authorized administrators. This vulnerability particularly impacts organizations relying on Cisco CDM for unified communications management, as it undermines the trust boundaries within the administrative interface and could facilitate more sophisticated attacks such as lateral movement within the network or credential theft.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying the latest security patches from Cisco that address the access control implementation flaws in the web framework. Network segmentation and access controls should be strengthened to limit access to the CDM administrative interface to only authorized personnel with legitimate business needs. Monitoring and logging of administrative interface access should be enhanced to detect unauthorized access attempts. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-285, which addresses improper authorization within software systems, and represents a classic example of insufficient access control validation that enables privilege escalation attacks. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to techniques involving privilege escalation and credential access, potentially enabling adversaries to establish persistent access to the communications infrastructure. Organizations should also consider implementing additional security controls such as multi-factor authentication for administrative access and regular security assessments of unified communications platforms to identify similar implementation flaws in other components.