CVE-2016-2947 in Rational Collaborative Lifecycle Management
Summary
by MITRE
IBM Rational Collaborative Lifecycle Management 4.0 before 4.0.7 iFix11, 5.0 before 5.0.2 iFix18, and 6.0 before 6.0.2 iFix5; Rational Quality Manager 4.0 before 4.0.7 iFix11, 5.0 before 5.0.2 iFix18, and 6.0 before 6.0.2 iFix5; Rational Team Concert 4.0 before 4.0.7 iFix11, 5.0 before 5.0.2 iFix18, and 6.0 before 6.0.2 iFix5; Rational DOORS Next Generation 4.0 before 4.0.7 iFix11, 5.0 before 5.0.2 iFix18, and 6.0 before 6.0.2 iFix5; Rational Engineering Lifecycle Manager 4.x before 4.0.7 iFix11, 5.0 before 5.0.2 iFix18, and 6.0 before 6.0.2 iFix5; Rational Rhapsody Design Manager 4.0 before 4.0.7 iFix11, 5.0 before 5.0.2 iFix18, and 6.0 before 6.0.2 iFix5; and Rational Software Architect Design Manager 4.0 before 4.0.7 iFix11, 5.0 before 5.0.2 iFix18, and 6.0 before 6.0.2 iFix5 allow remote authenticated users to obtain sensitive information via unspecified vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/08/2019
This vulnerability affects multiple IBM Rational products including Collaborative Lifecycle Management, Quality Manager, Team Concert, DOORS Next Generation, Engineering Lifecycle Manager, Rhapsody Design Manager, and Software Architect Design Manager across various version ranges. The security flaw permits remote authenticated users to extract sensitive information through unspecified attack vectors, representing a significant data exposure risk within enterprise development environments. These products are widely used for managing software development processes, requirements management, and collaborative engineering workflows, making them attractive targets for threat actors seeking to access proprietary information. The vulnerability exists in versions prior to specific iFix releases, indicating that IBM has acknowledged and addressed this issue in their subsequent patches. The unspecified nature of the vectors suggests that the flaw could manifest through various mechanisms including but not limited to improper access controls, information leakage in API responses, or insecure data handling within the application's authentication and authorization frameworks. This type of vulnerability falls under the category of information disclosure, which can lead to unauthorized access to confidential data including source code, requirements documents, test cases, and other intellectual property assets that organizations rely on for competitive advantage. The impact extends beyond simple data exposure as it can enable attackers to gain deeper insights into organizational development processes, project timelines, and system configurations that could be leveraged for more sophisticated attacks.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability likely involves weaknesses in how the affected IBM Rational products handle authentication contexts or access control mechanisms for sensitive data retrieval operations. Attackers who can authenticate to these systems but do not have appropriate authorization levels may exploit this flaw to access data they should not normally be able to view. This represents a privilege escalation or access control bypass scenario where the system fails to properly validate user permissions before returning sensitive information. The vulnerability's presence across multiple IBM Rational product lines suggests a common underlying codebase or architectural pattern that shares this security weakness, potentially indicating a systemic design flaw rather than isolated incidents. From a cybersecurity perspective, this vulnerability aligns with common attack patterns identified in the ATT&CK framework under information gathering and credential access tactics, where adversaries seek to understand system configurations and access control structures. The affected products are typically deployed in enterprise environments where they handle sensitive business and technical information, making this vulnerability particularly dangerous as it could expose critical infrastructure and development assets to unauthorized parties. Organizations using these tools often store confidential project data, intellectual property, and business-sensitive information within these platforms, creating substantial risk if attackers can exploit this information disclosure flaw.
Organizations should prioritize immediate remediation by applying the appropriate iFix patches released by IBM for each affected product version, ensuring that all systems are updated to versions that contain the necessary security fixes. The vulnerability's classification as an information disclosure issue means that organizations should conduct thorough risk assessments to determine which specific data might have been exposed through prior exploitation attempts. Security teams should implement network monitoring to detect any unusual access patterns or data retrieval activities that might indicate exploitation attempts. Additionally, organizations should review their access control policies and ensure that proper principle of least privilege is enforced across all Rational product deployments. The remediation process should include verification that all affected systems have been properly patched and that no residual vulnerabilities remain in the updated configurations. Organizations should also consider implementing additional security controls such as database activity monitoring, API request logging, and enhanced authentication mechanisms to further protect sensitive data within these development platforms. From a compliance perspective, this vulnerability could impact organizations subject to regulatory requirements that mandate protection of sensitive data, potentially requiring incident reporting and additional security measures. The affected products are commonly used in regulated industries where data protection and audit trails are critical components of security posture, making this vulnerability particularly concerning for organizations subject to strict compliance requirements. Security teams should also consider conducting penetration testing or vulnerability assessments to ensure that no other related vulnerabilities exist within the broader ecosystem of development tools and platforms that might be interconnected with these Rational products.