CVE-2015-0158 in Business Process Manager
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the Coach NG framework in IBM Business Process Manager (BPM) 8.0 through 8.0.1.3, 8.5.0 through 8.5.0.1, and 8.5.5 through 8.5.5.0 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via a crafted URL.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/01/2022
The CVE-2015-0158 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw within IBM Business Process Manager's Coach NG framework, affecting multiple versions of the enterprise BPM platform. This vulnerability resides in the web application's input validation mechanisms and specifically targets the framework's handling of user-supplied URL parameters. The flaw enables remote attackers to execute malicious scripts within the context of authenticated user sessions, potentially compromising the entire web application environment. The vulnerability impacts IBM Business Process Manager versions 8.0 through 8.0.1.3, 8.5.0 through 8.5.0.1, and 8.5.5 through 8.5.5.0, making it a widespread concern across a significant portion of the IBM BPM product line.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through the manipulation of URL parameters that are not properly sanitized or validated by the Coach NG framework. When a user navigates to a crafted URL containing malicious script code, the framework fails to adequately filter or escape the input before rendering it in the web interface. This allows attackers to inject arbitrary HTML and JavaScript code that executes in the victim's browser context, potentially leading to session hijacking, data theft, or further exploitation of the application. The vulnerability specifically affects the framework's handling of URL query strings and parameters, which are commonly used for navigation and data passing within the BPM environment.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risks to enterprise environments that rely on IBM Business Process Manager for critical business operations. The remote nature of the attack means that adversaries can exploit the vulnerability without requiring physical access to the system or prior authentication. Successful exploitation could result in unauthorized access to sensitive business process data, manipulation of workflow executions, and potential compromise of the entire BPM platform. The impact extends beyond individual user sessions to potentially affect business continuity and data integrity within enterprise processes that depend on the affected framework components.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including input validation and output encoding mechanisms to prevent malicious script injection, along with applying available security patches from IBM to address the vulnerability. The remediation strategy should incorporate proper parameter validation, HTML escaping, and input sanitization techniques that align with established security frameworks. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-79, which specifically addresses cross-site scripting flaws, and represents a clear violation of secure coding practices that should be prevented through proper input validation and output encoding mechanisms. Security teams should also consider implementing web application firewalls and monitoring for suspicious URL patterns to detect potential exploitation attempts. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this vulnerability under the T1059 technique for command and scripting interpreter, as attackers can leverage the XSS flaw to execute malicious commands within user browsers and potentially escalate privileges within the BPM environment.