CVE-2016-2998 in Connections
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in IBM Connections 4.0 through CR4, 4.5 through CR5, 5.0 before CR4, and 5.5 before CR1 allows remote authenticated users to hijack the authentication of arbitrary users for requests that update data.
VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/06/2019
The CVE-2016-2998 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw affecting multiple versions of IBM Connections software. This vulnerability exists within the authentication and session management mechanisms of the platform, specifically in how the system handles user requests that modify data. The flaw allows remote authenticated attackers to craft malicious requests that can be executed on behalf of other users without their knowledge or consent, effectively hijacking their authenticated sessions. The affected versions include IBM Connections 4.0 through CR4, 4.5 through CR5, 5.0 before CR4, and 5.5 before CR1, indicating a widespread impact across several major releases of the collaboration platform.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the absence of proper anti-CSRF tokens or mechanisms in the data modification endpoints of IBM Connections. When authenticated users navigate to malicious websites or click on crafted links, the attacker can leverage the user's existing session cookies to execute unauthorized actions against the IBM Connections server. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it operates at the application layer, targeting the web interface rather than network protocols, and can be exploited through various vectors including email attachments, social engineering campaigns, or compromised websites. The flaw essentially removes the server's ability to distinguish between legitimate user requests and forged requests originating from malicious third parties.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risks to organizations using IBM Connections for collaboration and document management. Attackers could potentially modify user profiles, alter shared documents, delete content, or perform other unauthorized data modifications that could compromise business continuity and data integrity. The authentication hijacking aspect means that even users with proper credentials could have their sessions compromised, leading to unauthorized access to sensitive information and collaboration spaces. Organizations may experience reputational damage, regulatory compliance issues, and potential financial losses due to unauthorized data manipulation. The vulnerability also increases the attack surface for more sophisticated attacks that could leverage the initial CSRF compromise as a foothold for further exploitation.
Organizations should implement multiple layers of defense to mitigate this vulnerability. The primary recommendation involves ensuring that all data modification requests include and validate anti-CSRF tokens that are unique per user session and tied to the specific request origin. This approach aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses cross-site request forgery vulnerabilities, and follows the principle of least privilege by requiring explicit validation of user intent. Additional mitigations include implementing proper session management with secure cookie attributes, enforcing strict origin validation on API endpoints, and deploying web application firewalls that can detect and block suspicious request patterns. Organizations should also consider implementing user awareness training to recognize potential social engineering attempts that could exploit this vulnerability, as well as regular security assessments to identify similar weaknesses in other web applications within their infrastructure. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this type of vulnerability under the 'Initial Access' and 'Credential Access' phases, highlighting the importance of both preventing exploitation and detecting unauthorized access attempts.