CVE-2015-0522 in RSA Certificate Manager
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in EMC RSA Certificate Manager (RCM) before 6.9 build 558 and RSA Registration Manager (RRM) before 6.9 build 558 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via vectors related to the email address parameter.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/01/2022
The CVE-2015-0522 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw affecting EMC RSA Certificate Manager and RSA Registration Manager products. This vulnerability exists in versions prior to 6.9 build 558 and specifically targets the email address parameter handling within these security management platforms. The flaw allows remote attackers to execute malicious web scripts or HTML code within the context of affected applications, potentially compromising user sessions and data integrity.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and output encoding mechanisms within the email parameter processing functionality. When users interact with the affected systems through email address fields, the applications fail to properly sanitize user-supplied input before rendering it in web responses. This creates an exploitable condition where malicious actors can craft specially formatted email addresses containing embedded scripts that execute in the victim's browser context. The vulnerability classifies under CWE-79 as an implementation weakness in the application's failure to properly encode output before rendering user-controllable data.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents significant risks to organizations relying on RSA security platforms for certificate management and user registration processes. Attackers could leverage this weakness to steal session cookies, redirect users to malicious sites, or inject persistent XSS payloads that compromise long-term system security. The remote nature of the attack means that exploitation does not require local access or authentication, making it particularly dangerous for enterprise environments where these systems handle sensitive certificate issuance and user management functions. The vulnerability directly impacts the confidentiality and integrity of user data within the certificate management ecosystem.
Organizations should prioritize immediate patching of affected RSA Certificate Manager and RSA Registration Manager installations to version 6.9 build 558 or later. Security teams should implement network monitoring to detect potential exploitation attempts and conduct thorough vulnerability assessments of related systems. The remediation process should include verifying proper input sanitization across all user-controllable parameters and implementing robust output encoding mechanisms. Additionally, organizations should consider deploying web application firewalls to provide additional protection layers and establish incident response procedures for potential exploitation attempts. This vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date security patches in enterprise security infrastructure and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566 for credential access through malicious web content delivery.