CVE-2016-2878 in QRadar SIEM
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerabilities in IBM QRadar SIEM 7.1 before MR2 Patch 13 and 7.2 before 7.2.7 allow remote attackers to hijack the authentication of arbitrary users for requests that insert XSS sequences.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/13/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-2878 represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw affecting IBM QRadar SIEM versions 7.1 before MR2 Patch 13 and 7.2 before 7.2.7. This vulnerability falls under the CWE-352 category, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery weaknesses in software applications. The flaw enables remote attackers to manipulate authenticated sessions by tricking users into executing unintended actions against their own QRadar instances. The vulnerability specifically targets the authentication mechanisms within the SIEM platform, allowing attackers to hijack user sessions and perform unauthorized operations with elevated privileges.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from insufficient validation of request origins and lack of proper anti-CSRF token implementation within the QRadar web interface. When legitimate users navigate to maliciously crafted web pages or click on compromised links, the attacker can leverage the victim's existing authenticated session to inject cross-site scripting sequences into the system. This occurs because the application fails to verify that requests originate from legitimate sources within the same origin domain, creating an exploitable gap in the security model. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it operates at the web application layer, where user sessions are managed and authenticated.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple session hijacking, as it provides attackers with the capability to inject malicious XSS payloads that can persist within the QRadar environment. This creates a persistent threat vector where attackers can execute arbitrary code within the context of the victim's session, potentially leading to complete system compromise. The vulnerability affects the core authentication and session management functions of QRadar, which means that successful exploitation could result in unauthorized access to sensitive security event data, configuration changes, and the ability to manipulate security policies. The attack surface is particularly concerning given that QRadar is deployed in critical security operations centers where it handles sensitive threat intelligence and security monitoring data.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should implement immediate mitigations including applying the vendor-provided patches for MR2 Patch 13 and 7.2.7, implementing proper input validation and output encoding mechanisms, and deploying web application firewalls to detect and prevent CSRF attacks. The mitigation strategies should also include network-level protections such as implementing strict origin validation headers and ensuring that anti-CSRF tokens are properly implemented and validated for all state-changing operations. Additionally, security teams should conduct thorough audits of their QRadar configurations to ensure that session management is properly secured and that no unauthorized modifications have occurred. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1078 which covers valid accounts and T1213 which covers data from information repositories, emphasizing the critical nature of protecting authentication mechanisms in security information and event management systems.