CVE-2014-4804 in Curam Social Program Management
Summary
by MITRE
Curam Universal Access in IBM Curam Social Program Management 5.2 before SP6 EP6, 6.0 SP2 before EP26, 6.0.4.5 before iFix007, 6.0.5.4 before iFix005, and 6.0.5.5 before iFix003, when SPI inclusion is enabled, allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive user data by visiting an unspecified page.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/13/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-4804 affects IBM Curam Universal Access within the IBM Curam Social Program Management platform across multiple versions including 5.2 before SP6 EP6, 6.0 SP2 before EP26, 6.0.4.5 before iFix007, 6.0.5.4 before iFix005, and 6.0.5.5 before iFix003. This security flaw resides in the system's handling of SPI (Service Provider Interface) inclusion functionality, creating a critical exposure that enables remote attackers to access sensitive user information through unspecified page visits. The vulnerability represents a significant security weakness in the platform's access control mechanisms and data protection measures.
The technical implementation flaw occurs when SPI inclusion is enabled within the Curam Universal Access framework, creating an unauthorized data access pathway. The vulnerability allows attackers to obtain sensitive user data by simply visiting specific pages within the application, without requiring authentication or authorization. This represents a classic case of insufficient access control and inadequate data validation within the application's request processing flow. The flaw exists in the application's ability to properly validate and restrict access to sensitive information, particularly when service provider interfaces are active.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and multifaceted. Remote attackers can exploit this weakness to gain unauthorized access to user data without any credentials or privileged access, potentially compromising personal information, social program details, and other sensitive data managed by the Curam platform. This vulnerability directly violates fundamental security principles of data confidentiality and access control, as it allows information disclosure without proper authentication mechanisms. The affected versions span multiple major releases, indicating a persistent flaw in the platform's security architecture that could impact organizations relying on these social program management systems.
Organizations using affected versions of IBM Curam Social Program Management should immediately implement mitigations including disabling SPI inclusion functionality when not required, implementing additional access controls, and applying the relevant IBM security patches and iFixes. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-284 (Improper Access Control) and represents a clear violation of the principle of least privilege. From an attack perspective, this vulnerability maps to ATT&CK technique T1078 (Valid Accounts) and T1046 (Network Service Scanning) as attackers can leverage this weakness to discover and access sensitive information without proper authorization. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of proper input validation and access control implementation in enterprise social program management systems.
This vulnerability highlights the need for comprehensive security testing and validation of service provider interfaces within enterprise applications. The flaw underscores the importance of maintaining up-to-date security patches and implementing proper security monitoring to detect unauthorized access attempts. Organizations should conduct thorough security assessments of their Curam deployments and ensure that all applicable IBM security fixes are applied promptly to prevent exploitation of this vulnerability. The incident serves as a reminder of the critical nature of protecting sensitive social program data and maintaining proper access controls in government and social services applications.