CVE-2015-3318 in Management Agent
Summary
by MITRE
CA Common Services, as used in CA Client Automation r12.5 SP01, r12.8, and r12.9; CA Network and Systems Management r11.0, r11.1, and r11.2; CA NSM Job Management Option r11.0, r11.1, and r11.2; CA Universal Job Management Agent; CA Virtual Assurance for Infrastructure Managers (aka SystemEDGE) 12.6, 12.7, 12.8, and 12.9; and CA Workload Automation AE r11, r11.3, r11.3.5, and r11.3.6 on UNIX, does not properly validate an unspecified variable, which allows local users to gain privileges via unknown vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/21/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2015-3318 represents a critical privilege escalation flaw within CA Common Services components across multiple CA software products including Client Automation, Network and Systems Management, and various job management solutions. This issue stems from inadequate input validation mechanisms that fail to properly sanitize an unspecified variable within the system's privilege handling architecture. The vulnerability affects numerous versions of CA software products deployed on unix operating systems, creating a widespread security concern for organizations utilizing these solutions.
The technical flaw manifests in the improper validation of system variables that control privilege levels and access controls within the CA Common Services framework. When local users interact with the affected components, they can exploit this validation weakness to elevate their privileges through unspecified attack vectors that leverage the insufficient input sanitization. This type of vulnerability falls under the CWE-20 category of "Improper Input Validation" and represents a classic privilege escalation attack vector that can be exploited by malicious users with local system access. The unspecified nature of the vulnerable variable suggests that the flaw may exist across multiple system parameters or configuration elements within the Common Services component.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe as it allows local users to gain elevated privileges without proper authentication or authorization mechanisms. Attackers who already have local access to affected systems can leverage this flaw to escalate their privileges to administrative or root level access, potentially enabling them to manipulate system configurations, access sensitive data, or establish persistent backdoors. The widespread nature of the affected products means that organizations with multiple CA software deployments across their infrastructure are all potentially at risk, creating a significant attack surface that could be exploited by both internal and external threat actors.
Organizations should immediately implement mitigations including applying the latest security patches provided by CA Technologies, restricting local system access to only authorized personnel, and implementing comprehensive monitoring for privilege escalation attempts. System administrators should also conduct thorough vulnerability assessments to identify all affected installations and ensure that proper access controls are in place to limit local user privileges. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper input validation and privilege management within enterprise software systems, aligning with ATT&CK technique T1068 which covers "Exploitation for Privilege Escalation" and highlights the need for robust security controls in system components that handle user privileges. Additionally, this vulnerability underscores the necessity for regular security assessments and patch management programs to address known issues in enterprise software platforms.