CVE-2015-2853 in SSL Visibility Appliance
Summary
by MITRE
Session fixation vulnerability in the WebUI component in Blue Coat SSL Visibility Appliance SV800, SV1800, SV2800, and SV3800 3.6.x through 3.8.x before 3.8.4 allows remote attackers to hijack web sessions by providing a session ID.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/06/2024
The CVE-2015-2853 vulnerability represents a critical session fixation flaw within the WebUI component of Blue Coat SSL Visibility Appliance models SV800, SV1800, SV2800, and SV3800. This vulnerability affects firmware versions 3.6.x through 3.8.x prior to 3.8.4, creating a significant security risk for organizations relying on these network visibility appliances. The flaw enables remote attackers to hijack web sessions by exploiting the predictable session ID generation mechanism, fundamentally undermining the authentication and authorization processes that protect administrative access to the appliance's web interface.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the WebUI component's failure to properly regenerate session identifiers upon successful authentication. When a user logs into the appliance's web interface, the system should generate a new, unpredictable session ID to prevent attackers from reusing previously established session tokens. However, the vulnerable versions maintain or reuse existing session IDs, allowing an attacker who knows a valid session ID to simply present that ID to establish a session with the privileges of the authenticated user. This behavior directly violates fundamental web application security principles and creates an attack surface where session management is compromised at the core level.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple privilege escalation, as it enables attackers to gain unauthorized administrative access to critical network monitoring infrastructure. Organizations utilizing these appliances face significant risks including unauthorized network surveillance, data exfiltration, configuration changes, and potential lateral movement within their network environments. The vulnerability's remote exploitability means that attackers do not require physical access or network proximity to leverage this flaw, making it particularly dangerous for organizations with exposed administrative interfaces. Security incidents resulting from this vulnerability could lead to complete compromise of network visibility capabilities and potential exposure of sensitive network traffic data that the appliances are specifically designed to monitor and protect.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2015-2853 primarily focus on immediate firmware updates to versions 3.8.4 or later, which address the session fixation vulnerability through proper session ID regeneration mechanisms. Organizations should also implement network segmentation to limit access to the appliance's web interface, restrict administrative access to trusted networks only, and deploy additional authentication controls such as multi-factor authentication where possible. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-384, which addresses session fixation issues in web applications, and represents a clear violation of ATT&CK technique T1566, specifically targeting credential access through session management flaws. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be conducted to identify any remaining instances of the vulnerable firmware versions within the organization's infrastructure.