CVE-2015-7440 in Rational Collaborative Lifecycle Management
Summary
by MITRE
IBM Rational Collaborative Lifecycle Management (CLM) 3.0.1 before 3.0.1.6 iFix7 Interim Fix 1, 4.0.x before 4.0.7 iFix10, 5.0.x before 5.0.2 iFix15, and 6.0.x before 6.0.1 iFix4; Rational Quality Manager (RQM) 3.0.x before 3.0.1.6 iFix7 Interim Fix 1, 4.0.x before 4.0.7 iFix10, 5.0.x before 5.0.2 iFix15, and 6.0.x before 6.0.1 iFix4; Rational Team Concert (RTC) 3.0.x before 3.0.1.6 iFix7 Interim Fix 1, 4.0.x before 4.0.7 iFix10, 5.0.x before 5.0.2 iFix15, and 6.0.x before 6.0.1 iFix4; Rational Requirements Composer (RRC) 3.0.x before 3.0.1.6 iFix7 Interim Fix 1 and 4.0.x before 4.0.7 iFix10; Rational DOORS Next Generation (RDNG) 4.0.x before 4.0.7 iFix10, 5.0.x before 5.0.2 iFix15, and 6.0.x before 6.0.1 iFix4; Rational Engineering Lifecycle Manager (RELM) 4.0.3, 4.0.4, 4.0.5, 4.0.6, and 4.0.7 before iFix10, 5.0.x before 5.0.2 iFix1, and 6.0.x before 6.0.2; Rational Rhapsody Design Manager (Rhapsody DM) 4.0.x before 4.0.7 iFix10, 5.0.x before 5.0.2 iFix15, and 6.0.x before 6.0.1 iFix4; and Rational Software Architect Design Manager (RSA DM) 4.0.x before 4.0.7 iFix10, 5.0.x before 5.0.2 iFix15, and 6.0.x before 6.0.1 iFix4 might allow local users to gain privileges via unspecified vectors. IBM X-Force ID: 108098.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/05/2021
This vulnerability affects multiple IBM Rational products including Collaborative Lifecycle Management CLM, Rational Quality Manager RQM, Rational Team Concert RTC, Rational Requirements Composer RRC, Rational DOORS Next Generation RDNG, Rational Engineering Lifecycle Manager RELM, Rational Rhapsody Design Manager Rhapsody DM, and Rational Software Architect Design Manager RSA DM. The vulnerability exists in versions prior to specific fix levels across multiple release branches, indicating a widespread issue affecting the privilege escalation capabilities within these enterprise software platforms. These products are commonly used for software development lifecycle management, requirements management, and collaborative engineering environments where security controls are critical.
The vulnerability is classified as a local privilege escalation issue that allows attackers with local system access to elevate their privileges within the affected IBM Rational applications. While the specific technical vectors are not detailed in the CVE description, such privilege escalation vulnerabilities typically stem from inadequate access controls, improper privilege handling, or insecure code execution paths within the application's runtime environment. The unspecified nature of the attack vectors suggests multiple potential pathways for exploitation, including but not limited to insecure file handling, improper user permission checks, or flawed authentication mechanisms within the application's internal processes. This type of vulnerability aligns with CWE-276, which covers improper privilege management, and represents a significant security risk in enterprise development environments.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is substantial for organizations using these IBM Rational products, as local privilege escalation can enable attackers to gain elevated system access that may allow them to modify application configurations, access sensitive project data, manipulate development processes, or potentially establish persistent access within the development infrastructure. In enterprise environments where these tools are used for managing critical software development projects, such vulnerabilities could compromise the integrity of the entire development lifecycle management system. The vulnerability affects multiple versions across different product lines, suggesting it may be a fundamental architectural issue rather than a localized bug, potentially requiring widespread patching across various development teams and organizations that rely on these platforms for their software development processes.
Organizations should immediately implement the vendor-provided fixes and interim fixes for all affected versions of the IBM Rational products to mitigate this privilege escalation risk. System administrators should conduct comprehensive inventory assessments to identify all instances of affected software across their enterprise environments, including both on-premises installations and cloud-based deployments. Security teams should monitor for potential exploitation attempts and implement additional access controls and monitoring within environments where these applications are deployed. The remediation process should include thorough testing of patches in development and staging environments before deployment to production systems to ensure no regressions occur in critical development workflows. Organizations should also consider implementing principle of least privilege controls and additional monitoring for unusual privilege elevation activities within their Rational software environments, as recommended by the MITRE ATT&CK framework for privilege escalation techniques.