CVE-2015-7400 in Mashup Center
Summary
by MITRE
The Lotus Mashups component in IBM Mashup Center 3.0.0.1 allows remote authenticated users to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption) via an XML external entity declaration in conjunction with an entity reference, related to an XML External Entity (XXE) issue.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/02/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2015-7400 resides within the Lotus Mashups component of IBM Mashup Center version 3.0.0.1, representing a critical XML External Entity (XXE) flaw that enables remote authenticated attackers to execute denial of service attacks through excessive cpu consumption. This vulnerability specifically targets the processing of XML data within the mashup center's component architecture, where the system fails to properly validate or sanitize external entity declarations during xml parsing operations. The flaw manifests when the system encounters xml documents containing external entity declarations that reference external resources, leading to recursive entity expansion that consumes excessive computational resources.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability follows the classic XXE attack pattern where an attacker crafts malicious xml payloads containing external entity declarations that reference external resources or create recursive references. When the vulnerable system processes such xml content, the xml parser attempts to resolve these external entities, potentially leading to resource exhaustion through infinite recursion or excessive network requests. The authenticated nature of this attack requires an attacker to possess valid credentials within the system, but the impact remains severe as the vulnerability can be leveraged to consume significant cpu cycles and memory resources. This behavior directly aligns with the common weakness enumeration CWE-611, which categorizes XXE vulnerabilities as a form of improper restriction of XML external entity references.
The operational impact of CVE-2015-7400 extends beyond simple service disruption, as the sustained cpu consumption can lead to complete system unresponsiveness and cascading failures within the mashup center environment. Attackers can maintain prolonged denial of service conditions by submitting multiple malicious xml requests, potentially affecting other users and applications sharing the same system resources. The vulnerability's exploitation does not require specialized tools or extensive knowledge, making it particularly dangerous as it can be leveraged by attackers with basic authentication credentials. This weakness creates a persistent threat vector that can be used to degrade system performance, impact availability, and potentially serve as a precursor to more sophisticated attacks that might exploit the same parsing vulnerabilities for information disclosure or remote code execution.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should implement immediate mitigations including disabling external entity resolution in xml parsers, implementing proper input validation and sanitization, and restricting xml content processing capabilities for authenticated users. The recommended approach involves configuring the system to reject external entity declarations entirely or to limit the scope of external resource access through proper xml parser configurations. Security teams should also consider implementing network-level restrictions to prevent unauthorized access to external resources that could be exploited in recursive entity expansion attacks. According to the attack technique framework, this vulnerability falls under the category of resource exhaustion attacks, specifically targeting system availability through computational resource consumption. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper input validation and the principle of least privilege, where authenticated users should not be granted capabilities that could compromise system resources or availability. Organizations should also consider implementing monitoring and logging mechanisms to detect unusual xml processing patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts, as this vulnerability can be used both for simple denial of service and as part of more complex attack chains targeting the broader system infrastructure.