CVE-2016-0254 in Cognos Business Intelligence
Summary
by MITRE
IBM Cognos Business Intelligence 10.1 and 10.2 is vulnerable to a denial of service, caused by an XML External Entity Injection (XXE) error when processing XML data. A remote authenticated attacker could exploit this vulnerability to consume all available CPU resources and cause a denial of service. IBM X-Force ID: 110563.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/26/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-0254 affects IBM Cognos Business Intelligence versions 10.1 and 10.2, representing a critical security flaw that enables denial of service through XML External Entity Injection. This vulnerability resides in the processing mechanism of XML data within the business intelligence platform, creating a pathway for malicious actors to exploit the system's resource consumption patterns. The flaw specifically manifests when the application handles XML input that contains external entity references, allowing attackers to manipulate the parsing behavior and potentially exhaust system resources.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and sanitization within the XML processing libraries used by IBM Cognos Business Intelligence. When the system encounters XML data containing external entity declarations, it fails to properly restrict or resolve these references, enabling an attacker to craft malicious XML payloads that trigger recursive entity expansion or resource-intensive processing operations. This behavior aligns with CWE-611, which categorizes XML External Entity Injection as a serious weakness that can lead to resource exhaustion and denial of service conditions. The vulnerability operates at the application layer, specifically targeting the XML parsing functionality that is fundamental to data processing within business intelligence platforms.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents a significant risk to organizations relying on IBM Cognos Business Intelligence for critical reporting and analytics functions. A remote authenticated attacker with valid credentials can exploit this weakness to consume excessive CPU resources, potentially leading to complete system unavailability and disruption of business operations. The impact extends beyond simple service interruption as the vulnerability can be leveraged to create sustained denial of service conditions that may require system restarts or manual intervention to resolve. The attack vector requires only authenticated access, making it particularly dangerous in environments where user privileges are not properly managed or where credential compromise occurs through social engineering or other attack vectors.
The security implications of CVE-2016-0254 align with ATT&CK technique T1499, which covers denial of service attacks that consume system resources. Organizations using IBM Cognos Business Intelligence should implement immediate mitigations including disabling external entity resolution in XML parsers, implementing proper input validation controls, and restricting XML processing capabilities to prevent recursive entity expansion. Additionally, network segmentation and access controls should be strengthened to limit the attack surface and reduce the likelihood of unauthorized authenticated access. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper XML processing security measures and highlights the need for regular security assessments of enterprise business intelligence platforms. IBM released patches and updates to address this vulnerability, emphasizing the critical nature of maintaining up-to-date security measures in enterprise software environments. Organizations should also consider implementing monitoring solutions to detect unusual CPU consumption patterns that may indicate exploitation attempts.