CVE-2015-0110 in Business Process Manager
Summary
by MITRE
IBM Business Process Manager (aka BPM) 7.5.x, 8.0.x, and 8.5.x and WebSphere Lombardi Edition (aka WLE) 7.2.x allow remote authenticated users to bypass intended access restrictions on internal service types via vectors involving the executeServiceByName URL.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/13/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2015-0110 affects IBM Business Process Manager versions 7.5.x through 8.5.x and WebSphere Lombardi Edition 7.2.x, representing a significant authorization bypass flaw that undermines the security controls of these enterprise workflow platforms. This vulnerability specifically targets the internal service type access controls within the application's URL handling mechanism, allowing authenticated users to escalate their privileges and access restricted internal services that should only be available to administrators or specific authorized roles. The flaw resides in how the system processes the executeServiceByName URL endpoint, where improper validation of user permissions enables unauthorized access to sensitive internal functionalities.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and access control enforcement within the service execution framework. When an authenticated user makes a request to the executeServiceByName endpoint, the system fails to properly verify whether the requesting user possesses the necessary authorization levels to access the target internal service type. This misconfiguration creates a path where legitimate authenticated users can manipulate URL parameters to access services that are typically restricted to privileged roles, effectively bypassing the intended security boundaries that separate different user roles and access levels within the BPM platform.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple privilege escalation, as it can enable attackers to gain access to sensitive business process data, modify workflow configurations, and potentially disrupt critical business operations. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability could access internal service endpoints that provide administrative capabilities, data retrieval functions, or process management controls that should remain isolated from regular users. This unauthorized access could lead to data breaches, process manipulation, or service disruption that affects the integrity and availability of business processes managed by these platforms, particularly in environments where BPM systems handle sensitive corporate workflows and data.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should implement immediate mitigations including applying the relevant IBM security patches and updates, implementing additional access controls at the network level, and conducting thorough security reviews of the affected systems. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-284, which describes improper access control, and represents a clear violation of the principle of least privilege that should govern all enterprise application security architectures. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to privilege escalation techniques and can be leveraged to move laterally within affected environments, potentially enabling more sophisticated attacks that combine this access bypass with other exploitation vectors.
Security teams should also consider implementing network segmentation controls to limit access to the affected URL endpoints, particularly at the perimeter and internal network boundaries where the BPM systems are exposed. Additional monitoring should be deployed to detect unusual access patterns to the executeServiceByName endpoint, especially when requests attempt to access service types that are typically restricted. Regular security assessments of the BPM platform's access control mechanisms should be conducted to identify similar configuration flaws that could potentially provide similar unauthorized access paths. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of maintaining robust access control validation throughout all application components, particularly in enterprise systems that manage complex business workflows and sensitive organizational data.