CVE-2015-6854 in Single Sign-On
Summary
by MITRE
The non-Domino web agents in CA Single Sign-On (aka SSO, formerly SiteMinder) R6, R12.0 before SP3 CR13, R12.0J before SP3 CR1.2, and R12.5 before CR5 allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service (daemon crash) or obtain sensitive information via a crafted request.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/11/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2015-6854 affects CA Single Sign-On (SSO) systems, formerly known as SiteMinder, across multiple version ranges including R6, R12.0 before SP3 CR13, R12.0J before SP3 CR1.2, and R12.5 before CR5. This flaw resides within the non-Domino web agents component of the authentication platform, which serves as a critical element in enterprise single sign-on implementations. The affected systems operate as web agents that process authentication requests and manage user sessions within organizational networks, making them prime targets for attackers seeking to disrupt services or extract sensitive data from enterprise environments.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and error handling within the web agent processing logic. Attackers can craft specially designed HTTP requests that exploit buffer overflows, memory corruption issues, or improper exception handling mechanisms within the SSO daemon processes. These crafted requests trigger unexpected behavior in the web agent components, causing the daemon processes to crash and terminate unexpectedly. The vulnerability allows attackers to manipulate the input parameters sent to the web agents, potentially leading to memory corruption that results in system instability and daemon crashes. The flaw also enables information disclosure attacks where sensitive data from memory or system processes may be accessible through the malformed requests.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption to encompass potential data breaches and business continuity issues. When daemon processes crash, users experience authentication failures and system unavailability, disrupting legitimate business operations and potentially affecting thousands of users within affected organizations. The information disclosure aspect poses additional risks as attackers may extract sensitive session data, authentication tokens, or configuration information that could be leveraged for further attacks. Organizations using these SSO systems face significant risk during the vulnerability window, as attackers could exploit the flaw to gain unauthorized access to protected resources or cause widespread service outages across enterprise networks.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying the vendor-provided patches and service packs that address this vulnerability, specifically SP3 CR13 for R12.0, SP3 CR1.2 for R12.0J, and CR5 for R12.5. Network segmentation and access controls should be enforced to limit exposure of vulnerable web agents to untrusted networks. Implementing intrusion detection systems and monitoring for anomalous request patterns can help detect exploitation attempts. Security teams should also consider deploying web application firewalls to filter malicious requests before they reach the vulnerable components. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-121 for stack-based buffer overflow conditions and potentially CWE-20 for improper input validation, while the attack vectors map to ATT&CK techniques including TA0043 for Persistence and TA0005 for Defense Evasion through service disruption and information gathering activities.
This vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date security patches in enterprise authentication systems, where a single flaw can compromise the entire authentication infrastructure. The impact extends beyond immediate system availability to include potential credential compromise and unauthorized access to sensitive enterprise resources. Organizations should conduct comprehensive vulnerability assessments to identify all instances of affected software and implement layered security controls to reduce the attack surface. Regular security monitoring and incident response procedures should be established to quickly detect and respond to exploitation attempts, ensuring that the organization can maintain secure access control while minimizing business disruption from such vulnerabilities.