CVE-2016-2999 in Connections
Summary
by MITRE
IBM Connections 4.x through 4.5 CR5, 5.0 before CR4, and 5.5 before CR1 allows remote authenticated users to obtain sensitive information via an unspecified brute-force attack.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/26/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-2999 affects IBM Connections versions 4.x through 4.5 CR5, 5.0 before CR4, and 5.5 before CR1, representing a significant security weakness that enables remote authenticated attackers to extract sensitive information through unspecified brute-force techniques. This vulnerability resides within IBM Connections, a collaborative software platform that provides enterprise social networking capabilities including blogs, wikis, forums, and activity streams. The affected versions of this platform are widely deployed across enterprise environments, making this vulnerability particularly concerning for organizations relying on IBM Connections for their collaborative infrastructure.
The technical flaw manifests as a weakness in the authentication or authorization mechanisms that allows attackers with valid credentials to perform brute-force attacks against sensitive system components. While the exact nature of the vulnerable component remains unspecified in the CVE description, brute-force attacks typically target password hashing mechanisms, session management systems, or cryptographic key derivation processes. The vulnerability's classification as a brute-force attack suggests that attackers can systematically guess or enumerate through potential values to access protected resources, potentially exploiting weak entropy in password derivation or insufficient rate limiting mechanisms. This weakness likely stems from inadequate protection against repeated authentication attempts or insufficient validation of authentication parameters, creating opportunities for attackers to bypass normal security controls.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple information disclosure, as it represents a fundamental weakness in the platform's security architecture that could enable further exploitation. Remote authenticated attackers who successfully exploit this vulnerability could gain access to confidential data, user credentials, or system configuration information that could be leveraged for additional attacks within the enterprise network. The exposure of sensitive information through brute-force techniques could compromise user privacy, lead to unauthorized system access, and potentially provide attackers with insights into the internal security architecture of the affected organization. Organizations using these vulnerable versions may face regulatory compliance issues and potential data breaches that could result in significant financial and reputational damage.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should focus on immediate patching of affected IBM Connections versions to the latest available releases that contain security fixes. Organizations should implement robust rate limiting mechanisms to prevent brute-force attacks against authentication systems, enforce strong password policies with sufficient entropy, and deploy additional monitoring controls to detect suspicious authentication patterns. The implementation of multi-factor authentication can provide additional protection layers that would make successful exploitation more difficult even if initial credential compromise occurs. Security teams should also conduct comprehensive vulnerability assessments of their IBM Connections deployments to identify any other potential weaknesses in authentication or authorization systems, while ensuring that access controls are properly configured to limit information exposure to authorized users only. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-307 and CWE-308 categories related to improper authentication and weak password policies, and represents a technique that could be categorized under ATT&CK matrix tactics related to credential access and privilege escalation.