CVE-2016-2862 in WebSphere Commerce
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in IBM WebSphere Commerce 6.0 through 6.0.0.11, 7.0 before 7.0.0.9 cumulative iFix 3, and 8.0 before 8.0.0.5 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via a crafted URL.
Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/15/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-2862 represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw within IBM WebSphere Commerce platforms across multiple versions including 6.0 through 6.0.0.11, 7.0 before 7.0.0.9 cumulative iFix 3, and 8.0 before 8.0.0.5. This vulnerability falls under the CWE-79 category of Cross-Site Scripting, which is a fundamental web application security weakness that enables attackers to inject malicious scripts into web pages viewed by other users. The flaw specifically manifests when the application fails to properly validate and sanitize user input within URL parameters, creating an avenue for malicious actors to execute unauthorized code within the context of a victim's browser session.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation mechanisms within the WebSphere Commerce framework's URL handling processes. When users navigate to specially crafted URLs containing malicious script payloads, the application processes these inputs without adequate sanitization, allowing the injected HTML or JavaScript code to execute in the victim's browser environment. This occurs because the system does not properly encode or escape special characters in URL parameters before rendering them in web responses, creating a persistent vector for script injection attacks. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous as it operates at the application layer where user-supplied data directly influences the web page content generation process.
The operational impact of CVE-2016-2862 extends beyond simple data theft or defacement, as it provides attackers with the capability to establish persistent malicious sessions within the targeted application environment. Attackers can leverage this vulnerability to steal session cookies, redirect users to malicious sites, modify web page content, or perform actions on behalf of authenticated users. This weakness directly maps to the ATT&CK technique T1531 for "Account Access Removal" and T1566 for "Phishing" as it enables attackers to create convincing phishing campaigns or hijack legitimate user sessions. The vulnerability's presence in multiple versions of the WebSphere Commerce platform suggests a systemic issue within the application's input handling architecture, potentially affecting numerous enterprise e-commerce environments that rely on this platform for their online retail operations.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should implement immediate mitigations including comprehensive input validation and output encoding mechanisms, regular security patching, and network monitoring to detect suspicious URL patterns. The remediation strategy should focus on implementing proper HTML entity encoding for all user-supplied data within URL parameters, utilizing secure coding practices that align with OWASP Top Ten recommendations, and establishing robust content security policies. Additionally, implementing web application firewalls and regular security assessments can help detect and prevent exploitation attempts. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date security patches and implementing defense-in-depth strategies to protect enterprise web applications from persistent threats that can compromise user sessions and sensitive transactional data within e-commerce environments.