CVE-2016-3036 in Cognos TM1
Summary
by MITRE
IBM Cognos TM1 10.1 and 10.2 is vulnerable to a denial of service, caused by a stack-based buffer overflow when parsing packets. A remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to cause a denial of service. IBM X-Force ID: 114612.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/31/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-3036 affects IBM Cognos TM1 versions 10.1 and 10.2, representing a critical stack-based buffer overflow flaw that fundamentally compromises system availability. This vulnerability resides within the packet parsing functionality of the TM1 application, which serves as a powerful business intelligence and planning platform used extensively in enterprise environments for financial planning and analysis. The buffer overflow occurs when the application processes incoming network packets without adequate bounds checking, creating a condition where malicious input can overwrite adjacent memory locations on the stack.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from improper input validation mechanisms within the TM1 communication protocol handler. When a remote attacker crafts specially malformed packets and transmits them to the vulnerable TM1 server, the application fails to properly validate the packet size or content before attempting to process the data. This allows the attacker to write beyond the allocated buffer boundaries, potentially corrupting critical stack memory structures including return addresses, function pointers, and local variables. The flaw directly aligns with CWE-121, which categorizes stack-based buffer overflow conditions, and represents a classic example of unsafe memory manipulation practices in network service applications.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple system unavailability, creating significant business disruption for organizations relying on TM1 for critical financial planning and reporting operations. A successful exploitation can result in immediate service interruption, requiring system restarts and potentially leading to data loss or corruption during the recovery process. The remote nature of the attack means that adversaries can exploit this vulnerability from anywhere on the network, eliminating the need for physical access or local network presence. This makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where TM1 servers may be exposed to external networks or where insufficient network segmentation exists between critical systems and public-facing services.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should prioritize immediate mitigation strategies including applying the vendor-provided security patches and updates released by IBM to address the buffer overflow condition. Network segmentation and access control measures should be implemented to limit exposure of TM1 servers to untrusted networks, while monitoring systems should be deployed to detect unusual packet patterns or potential exploitation attempts. The vulnerability's classification under the ATT&CK framework would place it within the privilege escalation and denial of service categories, specifically targeting the service availability aspect of enterprise systems. Additionally, implementing robust input validation and bounds checking mechanisms throughout the application codebase can help prevent similar issues from occurring in other components of the TM1 platform or related applications.