CVE-2015-0588 in Unified Communications Domain Manager
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Cisco Unified Communications Domain Manager (UCDM) 10 allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of arbitrary users, aka Bug ID CSCuo77055.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/11/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2015-0588 represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw within Cisco Unified Communications Domain Manager version 10. This security weakness resides in the authentication handling mechanisms of the UCDM system, which is designed to manage and orchestrate unified communications services within enterprise networks. The vulnerability specifically affects the web-based administrative interface of the platform, creating a significant risk for organizations relying on this communication infrastructure for their business operations.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the absence of proper anti-CSRF tokens or validation mechanisms within the UCDM's web application framework. When authenticated users navigate to malicious websites or click on compromised links, the attacker can craft requests that exploit the trust relationship between the user's browser and the UCDM system. The vulnerability allows attackers to perform unauthorized actions on behalf of authenticated users, including modifying system configurations, creating new user accounts, or executing administrative commands. This flaw operates at the application layer and leverages the browser's automatic inclusion of cookies for the target domain, effectively bypassing the need for the attacker to know the user's credentials.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple privilege escalation, as it can enable complete compromise of the unified communications infrastructure. An attacker who successfully exploits this CSRF vulnerability can manipulate the entire UCDM environment, potentially disrupting critical business communications, accessing sensitive telephony data, or even establishing persistent backdoors within the network. The vulnerability affects organizations that rely on Cisco's unified communications solutions, particularly those with remote workers or mobile users who may inadvertently trigger malicious requests while browsing the internet. The attack vector requires minimal privileges from the attacker, making it particularly dangerous as it can be exploited through social engineering techniques such as phishing campaigns or compromised websites.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including the deployment of web application firewalls to detect and block suspicious requests, enabling strict referer header validation, and implementing proper CSRF token mechanisms throughout the application interface. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses cross-site request forgery weaknesses in web applications. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to technique T1566 for initial access through phishing and T1078 for valid accounts usage, potentially leading to lateral movement within the network. Cisco released security advisories and patches to address this vulnerability, emphasizing the importance of timely patch management for unified communications platforms. The incident underscores the critical need for robust authentication mechanisms in enterprise communication systems and highlights the importance of security testing for web-based administrative interfaces.