CVE-2015-1971 in Rational
Summary
by MITRE
Unspecified vulnerability in Jazz Team Server in Jazz Foundation in IBM Rational Collaborative Lifecycle Management (CLM) 3.x and 4.x before 4.0.7 IF8 and 5.x before 5.0.2 IF10; Rational Quality Manager (RQM) 2.x and 3.x before 3.0.1.6 IF7, 4.x before 4.0.7 IF8, and 5.x before 5.0.2 IF10; Rational Team Concert (RTC) 2.x and 3.x before 3.0.1.6 IF7, 4.x before 4.0.7 IF8, and 5.x before 5.0.2 IF10; Rational Requirements Composer (RRC) 2.x and 3.x before 3.0.1.6 IF7 and 4.0 through 4.0.7; Rational DOORS Next Generation (RDNG) 4.x before 4.0.7 IF8 and 5.x before 5.0.2 IF10; Rational Engineering Lifecycle Manager (RELM) 1.0 through 1.0.0.1, 4.0.3 through 4.0.7, and 5.0 through 5.0.2; Rational Rhapsody Design Manager (DM) 3.0 through 3.0.1, 4.0 through 4.0.7, 5.0 through 5.0.2, and 6.0; and Rational Software Architect Design Manager (DM) 3.0 through 3.0.1, 4.0 through 4.0.7, and 5.0 through 5.0.2 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service via unknown vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/26/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2015-1971 represents a critical security flaw within IBM's Rational Collaborative Lifecycle Management suite, specifically affecting multiple products including Jazz Team Server and various components of the Rational portfolio. This unspecified vulnerability resides within the Jazz Foundation of IBM Rational Collaborative Lifecycle Management versions 3.x and 4.x prior to 4.0.7 IF8, and 5.x prior to 5.0.2 IF10, alongside numerous other Rational products across their respective version ranges. The affected systems include Rational Quality Manager, Rational Team Concert, Rational Requirements Composer, Rational DOORS Next Generation, Rational Engineering Lifecycle Manager, and various Rational Design Managers spanning multiple version iterations. The vulnerability's classification as unspecified indicates that IBM did not provide detailed technical information about the exact nature of the flaw during the initial disclosure, which is common with certain types of denial of service vulnerabilities that may stem from memory corruption, resource exhaustion, or improper input handling mechanisms within the application servers.
The technical impact of this vulnerability manifests as a remote denial of service condition that allows attackers to disrupt the availability of the targeted IBM Rational applications without requiring authentication or elevated privileges. The unspecified nature of the attack vectors suggests that multiple pathways could potentially trigger the vulnerability, including malformed requests, excessive resource consumption, or exploitation of memory management issues within the Jazz Foundation components. From a cybersecurity perspective, this vulnerability represents a significant risk to organizations utilizing these collaborative development tools, as it could be exploited by malicious actors to render critical development infrastructure unavailable, thereby disrupting software development processes and potentially impacting project timelines. The vulnerability affects a broad range of IBM Rational products that rely on the same underlying Jazz Foundation architecture, creating a widespread potential impact across enterprise development environments.
The operational implications of CVE-2015-1971 extend beyond simple service disruption to potentially compromise the integrity of development workflows and collaboration processes within organizations. When exploited, this vulnerability could cause application servers to crash, restart unexpectedly, or become unresponsive to legitimate user requests, leading to extended downtime and productivity losses. Organizations relying on these tools for requirements management, quality assurance, team collaboration, and lifecycle management would face significant operational challenges if affected, particularly in mission-critical development environments where continuous availability is essential. The vulnerability's remote exploitability means that attackers could potentially target these systems from external networks without requiring physical access or insider knowledge, making it particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where such applications may be exposed to untrusted network traffic.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should implement immediate mitigation strategies including applying the relevant IBM security patches and fixes released as part of the IBM Rational Collaborative Lifecycle Management updates. The recommended approach involves upgrading to the patched versions specified in the IBM security advisories, particularly focusing on the targeted versions 4.0.7 IF8, 5.0.2 IF10, and their respective minor releases that contain the necessary security fixes. Network segmentation and access controls should be strengthened to limit exposure of these applications to untrusted networks, while monitoring systems should be enhanced to detect potential exploitation attempts. From a cybersecurity framework perspective, this vulnerability aligns with attack patterns documented in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the denial of service category, specifically targeting availability as a core objective. Organizations should also consider implementing intrusion detection systems and network monitoring to identify potential exploitation attempts, as the unspecified nature of the vectors makes traditional signature-based detection challenging. The vulnerability also relates to CWE-400, which covers unspecified vulnerabilities in resource management, and organizations should review their application security practices to prevent similar issues in other components of their software development infrastructure.