CVE-2016-0326 in Rational Quality Manager
Summary
by MITRE
IBM Rational Quality Manager (RQM) and Rational Collaborative Lifecycle Management 3.0.1.6 before iFix8, 4.x before 4.0.7 iFix11, 5.x before 5.0.2 iFix17, and 6.x before 6.0.1 ifix3 allow remote authenticated users to execute arbitrary OS commands via a crafted "HTML request."
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/15/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-0326 affects IBM Rational Quality Manager and Rational Collaborative Lifecycle Management products across multiple version ranges including 3.0.1.6 before iFix8, 4.x before 4.0.7 iFix11, 5.x before 5.0.2 iFix17, and 6.x before 6.0.1 ifix3. This security flaw represents a critical command injection vulnerability that enables remote authenticated attackers to execute arbitrary operating system commands on the affected systems. The vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and sanitization within the web application's handling of HTML requests, creating a path for malicious command execution that bypasses normal security controls. The affected products are widely used in software development lifecycle management and quality assurance processes, making this vulnerability particularly concerning for organizations relying on these platforms for critical business operations.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves a failure in proper HTML request sanitization within the IBM Rational products' web interfaces. When authenticated users submit crafted HTML content through the application's web forms or APIs, the system fails to adequately validate or escape special characters that could be interpreted as command sequences. This allows attackers who have legitimate authentication credentials to inject malicious commands that are then executed by the underlying operating system with the privileges of the web application process. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-74 and CWE-89 which categorize improper neutralization of special elements used in OS commands and SQL injection attacks respectively. The attack vector requires authentication but does not require elevated privileges, making it particularly dangerous as it can be exploited by insiders or compromised legitimate users.
The operational impact of CVE-2016-0326 extends beyond simple command execution to potentially compromise entire system infrastructures. Successful exploitation can enable attackers to gain full control over the affected servers, access sensitive data, modify system configurations, or establish persistent backdoors within the organization's development environment. Given that these products are commonly used in enterprise development environments, the vulnerability could provide attackers with access to source code repositories, test environments, and development resources that are often considered critical infrastructure. The vulnerability also presents significant risk to continuous integration and deployment pipelines that may rely on these tools for quality assurance processes, potentially allowing attackers to compromise the integrity of software releases and development workflows. Organizations using these products face potential data breaches, system compromise, and disruption of critical development operations that could impact their software delivery timelines and security posture.
Organizations affected by CVE-2016-0326 should immediately implement the vendor-provided iFix patches and security updates for their specific product versions to remediate the vulnerability. The IBM Security Bulletin for this vulnerability provides detailed information about the affected versions and recommended mitigation steps. Additionally, network segmentation and access controls should be strengthened to limit the potential impact of compromised accounts, while monitoring systems should be enhanced to detect unusual command execution patterns or unauthorized access attempts. Security teams should also conduct comprehensive vulnerability assessments of their Rational Quality Manager and Collaborative Lifecycle Management deployments to identify any potential exploitation attempts and ensure proper patch management processes are in place. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of input validation and proper sanitization in web applications, aligning with ATT&CK technique T1059.001 for command and script injection, and reinforces the need for comprehensive security testing throughout the software development lifecycle to prevent similar vulnerabilities from being introduced in future versions.