CVE-2016-2901 in WebSphere Portal
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the PA_Theme_Creator application in IBM WebSphere Portal 8.5 CF08 through CF10 and Web Content Manager allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of arbitrary users for requests that insert XSS sequences.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/24/2022
The CVE-2016-2901 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw within IBM WebSphere Portal's PA_Theme_Creator component, affecting versions 8.5 CF08 through CF10 and Web Content Manager. This vulnerability exposes organizations to sophisticated attack vectors where malicious actors can exploit the lack of proper authentication validation mechanisms to execute unauthorized actions on behalf of authenticated users. The flaw specifically resides in how the application handles user sessions and request validation, creating an environment where attackers can craft malicious requests that appear legitimate to the portal's security infrastructure.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient CSRF token validation within the PA_Theme_Creator functionality. When users access certain administrative interfaces or content management features, the application fails to properly verify that requests originate from legitimate user sessions rather than crafted malicious payloads. This weakness allows attackers to leverage existing user sessions to inject cross-site scripting sequences into the portal's content management system. The vulnerability operates at the application layer, specifically targeting the theme creation and content management workflows where user input is processed without adequate protection against session hijacking attacks.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data theft or modification, as it enables attackers to establish persistent footholds within portal environments through the insertion of XSS payloads. Remote attackers can leverage this flaw to manipulate content, inject malicious scripts, and potentially escalate privileges within the portal infrastructure. The vulnerability's exploitation capability means that even users with limited access rights can potentially compromise the entire portal environment, making it particularly dangerous in enterprise settings where WebSphere Portal serves as a central collaboration and content management platform. Organizations may experience unauthorized content modifications, data exfiltration, and potential compromise of user sessions across the entire portal ecosystem.
Organizations should implement comprehensive mitigation strategies including the immediate deployment of available IBM security patches and hotfixes specifically addressing this vulnerability. The implementation of proper CSRF token mechanisms within the PA_Theme_Creator component is essential, requiring the validation of anti-forgery tokens for all state-changing operations within the application. Network segmentation and monitoring solutions should be enhanced to detect anomalous requests targeting the vulnerable portal components. According to CWE standards, this vulnerability maps to CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery weaknesses in web applications. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability aligns with techniques such as T1566 (Phishing) and T1071.004 (Application Layer Protocol: Web Protocols) where attackers leverage web application flaws to establish persistent access and execute malicious code within target environments. Regular security assessments and input validation reviews should be conducted to prevent similar vulnerabilities in other portal components and ensure robust protection against session hijacking attacks.