CVE-2015-0651 in ACE Application Control Engine
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the web GUI in Cisco Application Networking Manager (ANM), and Device Manager (DM) on Cisco 4710 Application Control Engine (ACE) appliances, allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of arbitrary users, aka Bug ID CSCuo99753.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/10/2022
The CVE-2015-0651 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw in Cisco's Application Networking Manager and Device Manager web interfaces running on 4710 Application Control Engine appliances. This vulnerability exists within the web graphical user interface components of these network management systems, creating a significant security risk that enables remote attackers to exploit the authentication mechanisms of legitimate users. The flaw specifically affects the authentication handling within the web GUI, allowing malicious actors to manipulate authenticated sessions through crafted requests that appear to originate from legitimate users.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the absence of proper anti-CSRF tokens or validation mechanisms within the web application's request processing. When authenticated users interact with the web interface, the system fails to validate that requests originate from the legitimate user session rather than from external malicious sources. This weakness allows attackers to construct malicious web pages or send specially crafted requests that leverage the authenticated session of a victim user. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it operates at the web application layer, where user sessions are managed and validated, making it a classic example of insufficient session management controls.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple privilege escalation, as it enables full session hijacking capabilities that allow attackers to perform administrative actions within the targeted network appliances. An attacker could potentially modify network configurations, access sensitive data, or disrupt service availability through unauthorized operations. The vulnerability affects the core management functionality of Cisco ACE appliances, which are critical components in enterprise network infrastructure, making the potential damage substantial. This type of flaw aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery vulnerabilities, and represents a fundamental failure in web application security controls that should be implemented at the application level.
Security implications of this vulnerability are particularly severe in enterprise environments where these appliances manage critical network services and applications. The ability to hijack user sessions without requiring authentication credentials creates a significant attack surface that could lead to complete system compromise. Organizations using these appliances face risks including unauthorized network modifications, data exfiltration, and potential disruption of business-critical services. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of implementing proper session management and request validation mechanisms, which are fundamental requirements in secure web application development practices. Remediation efforts should focus on implementing anti-CSRF tokens, validating request origins, and ensuring that all authenticated operations require proper session validation. This vulnerability also highlights the need for regular security assessments of network management interfaces and the importance of maintaining up-to-date security patches across all network infrastructure components. The attack vector for this vulnerability operates through web-based exploitation, making it particularly relevant to the ATT&CK framework's privilege escalation and persistence tactics, where attackers can leverage compromised session tokens to maintain access to critical network infrastructure components.