CVE-2015-0141 in OpenPages GRC Platform
Summary
by MITRE
IBM OpenPages GRC Platform 6.2 before IF7, 6.2.1 before 6.2.1.1 IF5, 7.0 before FP4, and 7.1 before FP1 allows remote authenticated users to modify arbitrary user filters via a JSON request.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/18/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2015-0141 affects IBM OpenPages GRC Platform versions prior to specific fixpacks, representing a critical authorization flaw that enables authenticated attackers to manipulate user filter configurations. This issue stems from insufficient input validation and access control mechanisms within the platform's JSON request processing functionality. The vulnerability specifically impacts versions 6.2 before IF7, 6.2.1 before 6.2.1.1 IF5, 7.0 before FP4, and 7.1 before FP1, indicating a widespread exposure across multiple release lines of the governance, risk, and compliance platform.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through crafted JSON requests that allow authenticated users to modify filter settings associated with other users within the system. This represents a privilege escalation and data integrity violation where an attacker can potentially access or alter sensitive information that should be restricted to specific user roles or permissions. The flaw exists in the platform's API handling mechanism, where JSON payloads containing filter modification parameters are processed without adequate validation of user permissions or target user identification. This misconfiguration enables unauthorized modification of filter configurations that control data visibility and access within the GRC platform.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risks to organizations relying on IBM OpenPages for governance, risk management, and compliance activities. The ability to modify arbitrary user filters can lead to information disclosure, data manipulation, and potential bypass of security controls that are critical for maintaining regulatory compliance and internal governance standards. Attackers could potentially hide or expose sensitive data by altering filter settings, undermining the integrity of the entire GRC framework. The impact extends beyond simple data access issues as it can compromise audit trails, risk assessments, and compliance reporting mechanisms that depend on accurate and controlled data presentation. Organizations using this platform for financial services, healthcare, or regulated industries face heightened risks of compliance violations and security breaches.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should prioritize immediate application of the vendor-provided fixpacks and hotfixes for each affected version line. Organizations should implement network segmentation and access controls to limit exposure of the affected platform to authenticated users only, while also monitoring for suspicious API activity and JSON request patterns. The implementation of additional authentication layers and request validation mechanisms can help reduce the attack surface, though the primary remediation involves applying the official patches provided by IBM. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-285 which addresses improper authorization issues, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1078 for valid accounts and privilege escalation. Security teams should also consider implementing automated monitoring solutions that can detect anomalous filter modification patterns and alert on unauthorized configuration changes within the GRC platform.