CVE-2015-2769 in Personal Email Manager
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerabilities in the Personal Email Manager (PEM) in Websense TRITON AP-EMAIL before 8.0.0 allow remote attackers to hijack the authentication of unspecified victims via unknown vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/15/2018
The CVE-2015-2769 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw within the Personal Email Manager component of Websense TRITON AP-EMAIL software version 8.0.0 and earlier. This vulnerability falls under the broader category of CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery weaknesses in software applications. The flaw exists in the authentication mechanism of the email management system, creating a pathway for malicious actors to exploit the trust relationship between users and the web application. The vulnerability is particularly concerning as it allows remote attackers to hijack user sessions without requiring any authentication credentials, effectively bypassing the security controls designed to protect user accounts.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the absence of proper anti-CSRF token validation within the email manager's request processing pipeline. When users interact with the Personal Email Manager interface, the application should validate that requests originate from legitimate user sessions rather than being crafted by attackers. However, the flawed implementation fails to enforce this validation, allowing attackers to craft malicious requests that appear to come from authenticated users. These requests can manipulate email settings, access user data, or perform unauthorized actions within the email management system. The unspecified nature of the attack vectors suggests that multiple endpoints within the PEM module may be vulnerable, creating a broad attack surface that could be exploited through various means.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple unauthorized access to potentially compromising entire email management workflows within organizations using Websense TRITON AP-EMAIL. Attackers could leverage this vulnerability to gain unauthorized access to email configurations, modify user permissions, or even redirect email traffic through maliciously crafted requests. This type of vulnerability directly impacts the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of email services, potentially leading to data breaches, unauthorized communications, and disruption of business operations. The remote nature of the attack means that threat actors can exploit this vulnerability from anywhere on the internet, making it particularly dangerous for organizations that do not maintain strict network segmentation or monitoring controls. The vulnerability also represents a significant risk to enterprise email security, as it undermines the fundamental trust model that email management systems rely upon.
Organizations affected by CVE-2015-2769 should immediately implement mitigations including upgrading to Websense TRITON AP-EMAIL version 8.0.0 or later, which contains the necessary patches to address the CSRF vulnerability. Network administrators should also consider implementing additional protective measures such as CSRF token validation at the application level, enhanced monitoring of email management endpoints, and regular security assessments of web applications. The vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566, which covers the use of credential harvesting through phishing or other means, and represents a critical gap in the security posture of organizations relying on legacy email management systems. Security teams should also review their incident response procedures to ensure they can detect and respond to potential exploitation attempts targeting this specific vulnerability.