CVE-2016-0891 in ViPR SRM
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerabilities in administrative pages in EMC ViPR SRM before 3.7 allow remote attackers to hijack the authentication of administrators.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/11/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-0891 represents a critical cross-site request forgery weakness in EMC ViPR SRM version 3.6 and earlier, specifically affecting administrative interfaces. This flaw enables remote attackers to exploit the system's authentication mechanisms through malicious web requests that appear to originate from legitimate administrative sessions. The vulnerability resides within the administrative pages of the software, which are designed to handle sensitive operations and configuration changes that require proper authorization. The attack vector leverages the absence of proper CSRF protection mechanisms in the administrative interfaces, allowing unauthorized actors to perform administrative actions without legitimate credentials.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the lack of anti-CSRF tokens or similar protection mechanisms in the administrative page endpoints. When administrators interact with the ViPR SRM administrative interface, the system should validate that requests originate from legitimate authenticated sessions rather than from external malicious sources. Without proper CSRF protection, an attacker can craft malicious web pages or emails containing embedded requests that, when executed by an authenticated administrator, will be processed as legitimate administrative commands. This occurs because the browser automatically includes any relevant authentication cookies with requests, making it appear as though the administrator is making the requests themselves.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and multifaceted, as it directly compromises the integrity and confidentiality of the administrative functions within the EMC ViPR SRM environment. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability can perform any action available to administrators, including but not limited to modifying system configurations, creating or modifying user accounts, accessing sensitive data, and potentially escalating privileges further within the network. The administrative pages typically contain critical system controls that govern storage resource management, which makes this vulnerability particularly dangerous for organizations relying on ViPR SRM for their storage infrastructure management. The attack can be executed without requiring any special privileges or access to the system itself, making it an attractive target for malicious actors seeking unauthorized system access.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should immediately implement mitigations including updating to EMC ViPR SRM version 3.7 or later, which contains the necessary patches to address the CSRF protection gaps. The implementation of proper anti-CSRF token mechanisms should be enforced across all administrative interfaces, ensuring that each request includes a unique, unpredictable token that is validated server-side before processing. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing web application firewalls that can detect and block suspicious patterns of requests that may indicate CSRF attacks. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery, and represents a clear violation of the principle of least privilege and proper authentication mechanisms. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to techniques involving privilege escalation and persistence through administrative access, making it a critical concern for organizations implementing security controls and monitoring systems.
The remediation process should include comprehensive testing to ensure that all administrative endpoints properly validate CSRF tokens and that no similar vulnerabilities exist in other parts of the application. Network segmentation and monitoring should be enhanced to detect unusual administrative activities that might indicate exploitation attempts. Organizations should also review their incident response procedures to ensure they can quickly identify and respond to potential CSRF attacks that may compromise administrative access to critical storage management systems.