CVE-2015-6400 in Emergency Responder
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities in Cisco Emergency Responder 10.5(1a) allow remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via unspecified fields, aka Bug ID CSCuv25547.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/14/2018
Cisco Emergency Responder version 10.5(1a) contains multiple cross-site scripting vulnerabilities that represent a critical security risk for organizations relying on this emergency response platform. These vulnerabilities fall under the CWE-79 category of Cross-Site Scripting and specifically affect the web interface components of the system. The flaw allows remote attackers to inject malicious scripts into web pages viewed by other users without requiring any authentication or privileged access. The vulnerability exists in unspecified fields within the application's input handling mechanisms, making it particularly dangerous as attackers can target multiple entry points without specific knowledge of the exact vulnerable parameters. This type of vulnerability directly violates the principle of input validation and sanitization that forms the foundation of web application security.
The operational impact of these XSS vulnerabilities extends far beyond simple script injection, as they can enable attackers to perform session hijacking, steal sensitive information, redirect users to malicious websites, or even execute arbitrary commands within the context of the victim's browser. Attackers can craft malicious payloads that exploit the vulnerability by submitting specially crafted input through the affected fields, which are then reflected back to other users browsing the application. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it affects the emergency responder system, which likely handles sensitive emergency communications and potentially personal data of individuals during critical situations. This creates an environment where attackers could compromise the integrity of emergency response communications, potentially leading to misinformation or system disruption during actual emergencies.
From a threat modeling perspective, these vulnerabilities align with ATT&CK technique T1059.001 for Command and Scripting Interpreter and T1566.001 for Phishing, as attackers could leverage the XSS flaws to deliver malicious payloads or conduct social engineering attacks. The attack surface is broad since the vulnerability affects unspecified fields, suggesting that multiple input points within the application could be exploited. Organizations using Cisco Emergency Responder 10.5(1a) face significant risk of unauthorized access and data compromise, as the vulnerability does not require authentication and can be exploited remotely. The impact is particularly severe given that emergency responder systems often contain sensitive personal information, communication logs, and operational data that could be valuable to threat actors. The vulnerability represents a fundamental failure in the application's security design, specifically in its handling of user-supplied input and output encoding mechanisms.
Mitigation strategies should include immediate patching of the affected Cisco Emergency Responder system to the latest available version that addresses the XSS vulnerabilities. Organizations should implement comprehensive input validation and output encoding measures to prevent malicious scripts from being executed, following the principle of least privilege in web application design. Network segmentation and monitoring should be enhanced to detect potential exploitation attempts, while regular security assessments should be conducted to identify similar vulnerabilities in other systems. Additionally, security awareness training for administrators and users should emphasize the importance of keeping systems updated and recognizing potential phishing attempts that might leverage such vulnerabilities. The remediation process should also include reviewing and strengthening the application's security configuration, implementing proper web application firewall rules, and establishing incident response procedures specifically tailored to address XSS exploitation attempts in emergency response systems.