CVE-2015-5009 in WebSphere Commerce
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in IBM WebSphere Commerce 6.0 through FP11, 6.0 Feature Pack 4, 7.0 through FP9, 7.0 Feature Pack 5 through 8, and 8.0 before 8.0.0.1 allows remote authenticated users to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via a crafted URL.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/03/2022
The CVE-2015-5009 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw affecting multiple versions of IBM WebSphere Commerce platform. This vulnerability resides in the web application's input validation mechanisms and affects versions ranging from 6.0 through FP11, 6.0 Feature Pack 4, 7.0 through FP9, 7.0 Feature Pack 5 through 8, and 8.0 before 8.0.0.1. The flaw enables remote authenticated attackers to execute malicious web scripts or HTML code through carefully crafted URLs, potentially compromising user sessions and data integrity. This vulnerability falls under the CWE-79 category of Cross-Site Scripting, which is a fundamental web application security weakness that has been consistently identified as one of the most prevalent security risks in web applications.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs when authenticated users interact with specially crafted URLs that contain malicious script payloads. These payloads are not properly sanitized or validated by the WebSphere Commerce application before being rendered in web responses. The vulnerability specifically targets the application's handling of URL parameters and input fields, where user-supplied data is directly incorporated into web page content without adequate security controls. Attackers can leverage this weakness to execute scripts in the context of other users' browsers, potentially leading to session hijacking, credential theft, or unauthorized data manipulation. The vulnerability's impact is amplified by the fact that it affects authenticated users, meaning attackers can exploit it within the context of legitimate user sessions, making detection more difficult.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risks to e-commerce environments that rely on IBM WebSphere Commerce for their online operations. The potential impact includes unauthorized access to customer data, session manipulation, and the ability to redirect users to malicious websites. The vulnerability affects the core commerce functionality, potentially compromising product catalogs, user accounts, and transaction data. Organizations utilizing these affected versions face risks of data breaches, financial loss, and reputational damage. The authenticated nature of the attack means that even limited access to the system can be escalated to more severe compromises, as attackers can leverage legitimate user permissions to execute malicious code within the application context. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566, which describes the use of malicious content to gain initial access or escalate privileges within web applications.
Organizations should immediately implement mitigations including applying the relevant IBM security patches and fixes for the affected WebSphere Commerce versions. Input validation controls should be strengthened to sanitize all user-supplied data before processing, with particular attention to URL parameters and form inputs. Implementing Content Security Policies can provide additional protection against script execution in compromised contexts. Security monitoring should be enhanced to detect unusual URL patterns or script injection attempts. Regular security assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to identify similar vulnerabilities in the application stack. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of maintaining up-to-date security patches and implementing defense-in-depth strategies that include both perimeter security controls and application-level protections. Organizations should also consider implementing web application firewalls and security scanning tools to detect and prevent exploitation attempts targeting this class of vulnerability.