CVE-2016-0272 in Financial Transaction Manager
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in IBM Financial Transaction Manager (FTM) for ACH Services for Multi-Platform 2.1.1.2 and 3.0.0.x before fp0013, Financial Transaction Manager (FTM) for Check Services for Multi-Platform 2.1.1.2 and 3.0.0.x before fp0013, and Financial Transaction Manager (FTM) for Corporate Payment Services (CPS) for Multi-Platform 2.1.1.2 and 3.0.0.x before fp0013 allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of arbitrary users via unspecified vectors. IBM X-Force ID: 111052.
Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/17/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-0272 represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw affecting multiple IBM Financial Transaction Manager products including ACH Services, Check Services, and Corporate Payment Services for Multi-Platform. This CSRF vulnerability exists in versions 2.1.1.2 and 3.0.0.x prior to the fp0013 patch release, creating a significant security risk for financial institutions relying on these transaction processing systems. The flaw allows remote attackers to exploit the authentication mechanism by tricking users into executing unauthorized actions through malicious web requests that appear legitimate to the victim's browser. The vulnerability's classification under CWE-352 indicates it falls within the well-established category of cross-site request forgery attacks, where an attacker manipulates a victim's browser to perform actions without their knowledge or consent. The impact extends beyond simple data theft as these financial transaction systems handle sensitive monetary operations that could be compromised through successful CSRF exploitation.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient validation of the origin of HTTP requests within the IBM Financial Transaction Manager applications. When users authenticate to the system, their session tokens are typically stored in cookies or other client-side mechanisms that persist across requests. The flaw occurs because the application fails to properly verify that requests originate from legitimate sources within the same origin domain, allowing attackers to craft malicious web pages or emails that contain embedded requests to the vulnerable FTM systems. These crafted requests can leverage the user's existing authenticated session to perform actions such as initiating transactions, modifying payment instructions, or accessing sensitive financial data. The unspecified vectors mentioned in the description suggest that attackers could potentially exploit this through various delivery mechanisms including phishing emails, compromised websites, or social engineering campaigns that direct users to malicious content.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is particularly severe for financial organizations using IBM FTM solutions, as it could enable attackers to conduct unauthorized financial transactions without proper authorization. An attacker could potentially redirect users to malicious sites that automatically submit payment requests to the FTM system, effectively hijacking the user's authenticated session to perform transactions. This creates a direct threat to financial integrity and could result in significant monetary losses for affected institutions. The vulnerability's scope spans multiple product lines within the IBM Financial Transaction Manager suite, indicating a systemic issue that affects core transaction processing capabilities. Organizations relying on these systems for ACH processing, check services, or corporate payments face substantial risk as the attack surface includes all authenticated users of these applications. The attack vector allows for automated exploitation, meaning that once a user is tricked into visiting a malicious page, the attack can execute without further user interaction, making detection and prevention particularly challenging.
Mitigation strategies for this CSRF vulnerability should focus on implementing robust anti-CSRF mechanisms within the affected IBM FTM applications. The most effective approach involves implementing proper CSRF token validation where each HTTP request must include a unique, unpredictable token that is tied to the user's session and validated server-side before processing any transaction requests. Organizations should ensure that all versions of IBM FTM for ACH Services, Check Services, and Corporate Payment Services are updated to at least the fp0013 patch release or later versions that contain the necessary security fixes. Additional protective measures include implementing proper Content Security Policy headers to prevent unauthorized script execution, enforcing strict origin validation for all requests, and utilizing SameSite cookie attributes to prevent cross-site request forgery. Security teams should also conduct thorough penetration testing and vulnerability assessments to identify any additional weaknesses in the transaction processing environment. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this type of vulnerability under T1531 - Account Access Removal and T1190 - Exploit Public-Facing Application, highlighting the importance of securing application interfaces and maintaining up-to-date security controls. Organizations should also implement network monitoring solutions to detect anomalous transaction patterns that might indicate CSRF attack activity, as well as establish incident response procedures specifically designed to handle potential financial transaction fraud.