CVE-2015-6843 in SourceOne Email Supervisor
Summary
by MITRE
Reviewer in EMC SourceOne Email Supervisor before 7.2 does not properly limit attempts to authenticate, which makes it easier for remote attackers to obtain access via a brute-force approach.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/22/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2015-6843 affects EMC SourceOne Email Supervisor version 7.2 and earlier, representing a critical authentication weakness that significantly undermines system security. This flaw resides in the reviewer component of the email supervision software, which is designed to manage and control email content within enterprise environments. The vulnerability specifically targets the authentication mechanism's ability to enforce rate limiting or account lockout policies, creating a pathway for malicious actors to systematically exploit the system through automated brute-force attacks.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and authentication controls within the reviewer module. When users attempt to authenticate to the system, the software fails to properly track or limit the number of consecutive authentication attempts from a single source. This absence of proper rate limiting mechanisms allows attackers to rapidly submit multiple authentication requests without triggering protective measures that would normally prevent such automated exploitation attempts. The flaw essentially removes the protective barriers that would typically delay or block repeated login attempts, making credential stuffing and brute-force attacks significantly more effective against the affected system.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability creates substantial risk for organizations utilizing EMC SourceOne Email Supervisor, particularly those with sensitive email content management requirements. Attackers can leverage this weakness to systematically guess passwords through automated tools, potentially gaining unauthorized access to email supervision functionalities and the associated data. The impact extends beyond simple unauthorized access, as successful exploitation could lead to full system compromise, data exfiltration, or disruption of email services. Organizations may face regulatory compliance violations and reputational damage if email content management systems are breached through such authentication bypass techniques.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-307, which addresses inadequate account lockout mechanisms, and represents a clear violation of secure authentication practices outlined in various cybersecurity frameworks. From an attacker's perspective, this flaw maps to ATT&CK technique T1110.003, which covers credential brute force attacks targeting remote services. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including enforcing strict account lockout policies, implementing adaptive authentication controls, and deploying intrusion detection systems to monitor for unusual authentication patterns. The recommended remediation involves upgrading to EMC SourceOne Email Supervisor version 7.2 or later, where proper authentication rate limiting mechanisms have been implemented to prevent exploitation of this vulnerability.