CVE-2014-8900 in UrbanCode
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in IBM UrbanCode Release 6.0.1.6 and earlier, 6.1.0.7 and earlier, and 6.1.1.1 and earlier.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/10/2019
The cross-site request forgery vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-8900 affects IBM UrbanCode Release versions 6.0.1.6 and earlier, 6.1.0.7 and earlier, and 6.1.1.1 and earlier, representing a critical security flaw that undermines the integrity of web-based application interactions. This vulnerability resides within the authentication and authorization mechanisms of the UrbanCode Release platform, which is designed for continuous delivery and release management automation. The flaw allows attackers to perform unauthorized actions on behalf of authenticated users without their knowledge or consent, exploiting the absence of proper validation mechanisms for cross-site requests.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the lack of anti-CSRF tokens or similar protective measures within the application's web interface. When users authenticate to the UrbanCode Release system, their session remains active and vulnerable to manipulation through maliciously crafted web requests that originate from external domains. The application fails to validate that requests are genuinely initiated by the authenticated user rather than being submitted through automated or malicious means. This weakness enables attackers to construct specially crafted HTML pages or links that, when clicked by an authenticated user, execute unintended operations within the UrbanCode Release environment.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant as it allows attackers to perform critical administrative actions such as creating new users, modifying existing user permissions, deleting applications or releases, and potentially accessing sensitive deployment information. Attackers could leverage this vulnerability to escalate privileges, disrupt continuous delivery processes, or gain unauthorized access to production environments that are managed through UrbanCode Release. The attack vector typically involves social engineering techniques where users are tricked into clicking malicious links or visiting compromised websites that contain embedded CSRF payloads.
Organizations utilizing affected versions of IBM UrbanCode Release face substantial risk of unauthorized system modifications and potential data exposure. The vulnerability directly violates security principles outlined in the OWASP Top Ten 2017, specifically addressing the failure to prevent cross-site request forgery attacks. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to techniques such as T1078 Valid Accounts and T1566 Phishing, where attackers can leverage compromised user sessions to execute malicious commands. The vulnerability also aligns with CWE-352 Cross-Site Request Forgery, which categorizes this as a fundamental web application security flaw requiring proper token validation and request origin verification. Organizations should immediately upgrade to patched versions of UrbanCode Release, implement additional web application firewalls, and conduct security awareness training to mitigate the risk of successful CSRF attacks.
The remediation strategy involves applying the official IBM security patches that introduce proper CSRF token validation mechanisms, ensuring that all state-changing operations require valid anti-CSRF tokens. Additionally, organizations should implement comprehensive security monitoring, review existing user permissions, and establish regular vulnerability assessments to identify similar weaknesses in other enterprise applications. The vulnerability serves as a critical reminder of the importance of maintaining current security patches and implementing defense-in-depth strategies to protect enterprise automation platforms from sophisticated attack vectors.