CVE-2015-4541 in RSA Archer GRC
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities in EMC RSA Archer GRC 5.x before 5.5.3 allow remote authenticated users to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via unspecified vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/19/2022
The CVE-2015-4541 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw discovered in EMC RSA Archer GRC version 5.x prior to 5.5.3, fundamentally compromising the security posture of organizations relying on this governance risk and compliance platform. This vulnerability classifies under CWE-79 as a failure to sanitize user input, creating an avenue for malicious actors to execute arbitrary web scripts within the context of authenticated user sessions. The flaw specifically affects the application's handling of user-supplied data in unspecified vectors, suggesting a systemic weakness in input validation mechanisms across multiple components of the Archer platform. The vulnerability's impact extends beyond simple data theft, as it enables attackers to manipulate the application's behavior and potentially escalate privileges within the system.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability requires an attacker to possess valid authentication credentials, making it a privilege escalation vector rather than a completely open attack surface. However, the authenticated nature of the attack does not diminish its severity, as it allows malicious actors to leverage legitimate user sessions to execute malicious payloads. The unspecified vectors indicate that multiple input points within the application may be susceptible to injection attacks, potentially encompassing form fields, URL parameters, or API endpoints that process user data. This broad attack surface increases the likelihood of successful exploitation and makes comprehensive remediation challenging for system administrators.
Organizations utilizing EMC RSA Archer GRC 5.x before 5.5.3 face significant operational risks from this vulnerability, including potential data breaches, unauthorized access to sensitive compliance information, and possible system compromise through session hijacking or privilege escalation attacks. The vulnerability's presence in a governance risk and compliance platform particularly amplifies its impact, as attackers could manipulate audit trails, modify risk assessments, or gain access to confidential business intelligence. From an attack chain perspective, this vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566 for initial access through credential compromise and T1059 for command and script injection, making it a valuable asset for attackers seeking persistent access to enterprise environments.
The remediation strategy for CVE-2015-4541 centers on upgrading to EMC RSA Archer GRC 5.5.3 or later versions, which contain the necessary patches to address the input validation deficiencies. Organizations should also implement comprehensive input sanitization measures, including the adoption of proper output encoding techniques and the implementation of Content Security Policies to mitigate potential exploitation attempts. Security teams must conduct thorough vulnerability assessments to identify any custom applications or integrations that may be vulnerable to similar input handling issues, as the flaw may have been introduced through third-party components or custom modifications. Additionally, implementing robust monitoring and logging mechanisms can help detect exploitation attempts and provide early warning of potential security incidents. The vulnerability serves as a reminder of the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date security patches and the necessity of comprehensive security testing throughout the application lifecycle to prevent such persistent vulnerabilities from compromising enterprise security infrastructure.