CVE-2014-9565 in EN6131
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in IBM Flex System EN6131 40Gb Ethernet and IB6131 40Gb Infiniband Switch firmware 3.4.0000 and earlier.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/11/2021
The CVE-2014-9565 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw discovered in IBM Flex System EN6131 40Gb Ethernet and IB6131 40Gb Infiniband Switch firmware versions 3.4.0000 and earlier. This vulnerability resides within the web-based management interface of these networking devices, creating a significant security risk for enterprise environments that rely on these switches for critical infrastructure operations. The flaw allows authenticated attackers to perform unauthorized administrative actions on the affected switches without proper authorization, potentially compromising the entire network infrastructure.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the absence of proper anti-CSRF tokens in the web interface forms used for administrative operations. When legitimate users access the switch management interface, the system fails to validate that requests originate from the authenticated user session rather than from malicious third parties. This weakness enables attackers who can trick users into clicking malicious links or visiting compromised websites to execute administrative commands on the switches. The vulnerability specifically affects the firmware versions up to and including 3.4.0000, indicating that IBM had not yet implemented proper CSRF protection mechanisms in these early releases. According to CWE classification, this represents a CWE-352 vulnerability, which is the standard identifier for cross-site request forgery flaws in software applications.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple privilege escalation, as it can lead to complete network compromise when attackers leverage the administrative capabilities of these switches. An attacker with access to the network could potentially redirect traffic, modify switch configurations, disable network services, or create backdoor access points within the infrastructure. The affected switches serve as critical network components in data centers and enterprise environments, making their compromise particularly dangerous. Organizations using these switches may experience unauthorized network modifications, service disruptions, or complete network outages depending on the scope of attacker actions. The vulnerability also poses a significant risk to network security posture, as it can enable lateral movement within the network and provide attackers with persistent access to critical infrastructure components.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate firmware updates from IBM to address the CSRF implementation flaw. Organizations should prioritize updating their affected switches to firmware versions that include proper CSRF token validation and session management controls. Network administrators should also implement additional security measures such as restricting web interface access to trusted IP addresses, implementing network segmentation, and monitoring for suspicious administrative activities. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this vulnerability under privilege escalation and defense evasion techniques, as attackers can leverage it to gain elevated privileges and maintain persistent access. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be conducted to identify other potentially affected devices in the network infrastructure. Additionally, organizations should review their network access controls and implement multi-factor authentication where possible to reduce the overall risk exposure from such authentication-related vulnerabilities.