CVE-2016-0902 in RSA Authentication Manager
Summary
by MITRE
CRLF injection vulnerability in EMC RSA Authentication Manager before 8.1 SP1 P14 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary HTTP headers and conduct HTTP response splitting attacks via unspecified vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/30/2022
The CVE-2016-0902 vulnerability represents a critical CRLF injection flaw within EMC RSA Authentication Manager versions prior to 8.1 SP1 P14, exposing organizations to sophisticated HTTP response splitting attacks that can compromise web application security. This vulnerability falls under the CWE-113 category of Improper Neutralization of CRLF Sequences in HTTP Headers, which directly enables attackers to manipulate HTTP response headers through malicious input injection. The flaw specifically enables remote threat actors to inject arbitrary HTTP headers into responses, creating conditions where attackers can manipulate web browser behavior and potentially execute cross-site scripting attacks.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability occurs through unspecified input vectors within the authentication manager's HTTP response handling mechanisms, where user-supplied data containing carriage return line feed sequences is not properly sanitized before being included in HTTP headers. Attackers can exploit this weakness by crafting malicious input that includes CRLF characters, which when processed by the vulnerable system, result in the injection of additional HTTP headers into the server response. This injection capability allows adversaries to split HTTP responses into multiple distinct responses, enabling various attack vectors including session hijacking, cache poisoning, and redirection attacks that can be leveraged for credential theft and unauthorized access.
The operational impact of CVE-2016-0902 extends beyond simple header injection, as it provides attackers with the foundation for more complex attacks within the authentication ecosystem. When combined with other vulnerabilities or attack techniques, this flaw can facilitate session fixation, cross-site request forgery, and man-in-the-middle attacks that can compromise the integrity of the authentication process. The vulnerability specifically targets the authentication manager's web interface components, potentially allowing attackers to manipulate authentication flows and gain unauthorized access to protected resources. Organizations relying on RSA Authentication Manager for critical authentication services face significant risk of credential compromise and unauthorized system access through exploitation of this vulnerability.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2016-0902 require immediate implementation of the vendor-provided security patches, specifically targeting the 8.1 SP1 P14 release which addresses the CRLF injection vulnerability. Organizations should implement comprehensive input validation and sanitization measures across all web applications, ensuring that all user-supplied data is properly escaped or filtered before inclusion in HTTP headers. Network segmentation and web application firewalls can provide additional defense-in-depth layers, while monitoring systems should be configured to detect unusual HTTP header patterns that may indicate exploitation attempts. Security teams should also conduct thorough vulnerability assessments of their authentication infrastructure to identify any additional unpatched systems that may be susceptible to similar vulnerabilities. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this vulnerability under the T1190 technique of Exploit Public-Facing Application, highlighting the need for comprehensive application security testing and regular patch management procedures to prevent exploitation of such authentication system weaknesses.