CVE-2015-1485 in Data Loss Prevention
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the administration console in the Enforce Server in Symantec Data Loss Prevention (DLP) before 12.5.2 allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of administrators.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/22/2022
The CVE-2015-1485 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw within Symantec Data Loss Prevention's Enforce Server administration console. This vulnerability exists in versions prior to 12.5.2 and specifically targets the administrative interface of the DLP solution. The flaw enables remote attackers to manipulate authenticated sessions and potentially execute unauthorized administrative actions. The vulnerability stems from insufficient validation of request origins and lack of proper anti-CSRF token implementation within the administrative console components. This represents a fundamental breakdown in the application's security controls, as the system fails to adequately verify that requests originate from legitimate administrative sources rather than malicious third parties.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability allows attackers to craft malicious web pages or exploit existing web interactions that can trigger administrative functions within the DLP console. When an authenticated administrator visits a malicious page or interacts with a compromised web application, the attacker can leverage the existing session to perform administrative operations without proper authorization. This includes actions such as modifying policies, accessing sensitive data, or potentially gaining complete control over the DLP environment. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and specifically targets the authentication and authorization mechanisms that protect administrative functions within the Symantec DLP platform.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe given the privileged nature of the affected administrative console. An attacker who successfully exploits this CSRF vulnerability can effectively bypass authentication controls and assume administrative privileges within the DLP environment. This compromises the entire data loss prevention infrastructure, potentially allowing unauthorized access to sensitive data protection policies, monitoring configurations, and access controls. The attack can be executed remotely without requiring any special privileges or access to the internal network, making it particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where DLP systems are critical for protecting confidential information. The vulnerability undermines the core security posture of organizations relying on Symantec DLP for data protection.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including upgrading to Symantec DLP version 12.5.2 or later, which contains the necessary patches to address the CSRF vulnerability. Additionally, network segmentation and monitoring of administrative console access should be enhanced to detect suspicious activities. The implementation of proper anti-CSRF tokens and origin validation checks within the application layer provides defense-in-depth against similar vulnerabilities. Security teams should also conduct comprehensive assessments of their DLP environments to identify any other potential CSRF vulnerabilities in related components. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses cross-site request forgery weaknesses, and represents a technique commonly associated with the attack pattern identified as T1566 in the MITRE ATT&CK framework, focusing on credential access through web application attacks.