CVE-2014-4803 in Curam Social Program Management
Summary
by MITRE
CRLF injection vulnerability in the Universal Access implementation in IBM Curam Social Program Management 6.0 SP2 before EP26, 6.0.4 before 6.0.4.5 iFix007, and 6.0.5 before 6.0.5.5 iFix003, when WebSphere Application Server is not used, allows remote authenticated users to inject arbitrary HTTP headers and conduct HTTP response splitting attacks via an unspecified parameter.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/17/2018
The CVE-2014-4803 vulnerability represents a critical CRLF injection flaw within IBM Curam Social Program Management's Universal Access implementation. This vulnerability specifically affects versions 6.0 SP2 before EP26, 6.0.4 before 6.0.4.5 iFix007, and 6.0.5 before 6.0.5.5 iFix003 when deployed without WebSphere Application Server. The flaw stems from insufficient input validation and sanitization of user-supplied parameters that are processed within the Universal Access framework, creating an avenue for malicious actors to inject carriage return and line feed characters into HTTP responses.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through the manipulation of unspecified parameters within the application's request handling mechanism. When authenticated users submit crafted input containing CRLF sequences, these characters can be interpreted by the application's HTTP response generation process, allowing attackers to inject arbitrary HTTP headers into the response. This injection capability enables attackers to perform HTTP response splitting attacks, where they can effectively split a single HTTP response into multiple responses, potentially enabling various malicious activities including cross-site scripting, session hijacking, and cache poisoning attacks.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple header injection, as it fundamentally compromises the integrity of HTTP communications between the application and its users. Attackers can leverage this weakness to manipulate web browser behavior, redirect users to malicious sites, or inject content that appears to originate from the legitimate application. This vulnerability particularly affects environments where IBM Curam Social Program Management operates as a standalone application without the additional security layers provided by WebSphere Application Server, making the exploitation more straightforward for attackers who can directly target the vulnerable parameter handling mechanisms.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-113, which specifically addresses "Improper Neutralization of CRLF Sequences in HTTP Headers ('HTTP Response Splitting')", and demonstrates characteristics consistent with ATT&CK technique T1566, specifically "Phishing", as attackers can use the response splitting capability to craft deceptive web content. Organizations deploying affected versions of IBM Curam Social Program Management face significant risk of unauthorized access and data manipulation, particularly when the application serves sensitive social program management functions. The vulnerability's impact is amplified by the fact that it requires only authenticated access, meaning that legitimate users with appropriate credentials could potentially exploit this weakness to compromise the application's security posture.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2014-4803 primarily involve applying the vendor-provided patches and iFixes for the affected IBM Curam Social Program Management versions, specifically targeting the identified service packs and iFix releases. Organizations should also implement robust input validation mechanisms at the application level, ensuring that all user-supplied parameters undergo strict sanitization before processing. Network-level protections such as web application firewalls can provide additional defense in depth, though they should not be considered a substitute for proper application-level fixes. Security teams should also conduct comprehensive vulnerability assessments to identify any other potential injection points within the application and related systems, while monitoring for any suspicious activity that might indicate exploitation attempts.