CVE-2016-4368 in Universal CMDB
Summary
by MITRE
HPE Universal CMDB 10.0 through 10.21, Universal CMDB Configuration Manager 10.0 through 10.21, and Universal Discovery 10.0 through 10.21 allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands via a crafted serialized Java object, related to the Apache Commons Collections (ACC) library.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/09/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-4368 represents a critical remote code execution flaw affecting HPE Universal CMDB and related products. This issue stems from the improper handling of serialized Java objects within the Apache Commons Collections library, which serves as a foundational component in many enterprise applications. The affected versions include Universal CMDB 10.0 through 10.21, Universal CMDB Configuration Manager 10.0 through 10.21, and Universal Discovery 10.0 through 10.21, indicating a widespread impact across HPE's configuration management suite.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability lies in the insecure deserialization mechanism that fails to validate serialized object data before processing. When the affected HPE products receive crafted serialized Java objects, the Apache Commons Collections library attempts to deserialize these objects without proper input sanitization. This flaw enables attackers to inject malicious code that executes with the privileges of the affected application process. The vulnerability specifically relates to the use of the Commons Collections library's LazyMap and InvokerTransformer classes, which can be chained together to create a remote code execution payload through the deserialization process.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents a severe risk to enterprise environments as it allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands on affected systems without requiring authentication. The impact extends beyond individual system compromise to potentially enable lateral movement within networks, data exfiltration, and persistent access. Attackers can leverage this vulnerability to gain full control over the affected HPE Universal CMDB instances, which often serve as critical configuration management repositories containing sensitive infrastructure data. The vulnerability's remote nature means that attackers can exploit it from anywhere on the network, making it particularly dangerous for enterprise deployments where these systems may be exposed to external traffic.
The security implications of CVE-2016-4368 align with CWE-502, which describes "Deserialization of Untrusted Data" as a critical weakness in software systems. This vulnerability also maps to several ATT&CK techniques including T1059.007 for command and scripting interpreter and T1078 for valid accounts, as successful exploitation typically requires minimal initial access and can establish persistent command execution capabilities. Organizations utilizing affected HPE products should immediately implement mitigations including network segmentation, firewall rules blocking unnecessary ports, and application-level restrictions on deserialization operations. The recommended remediation involves updating to patched versions of the affected HPE products or applying the necessary security patches that address the vulnerable Apache Commons Collections library components, ensuring that serialized object validation is properly enforced throughout the application's deserialization pipeline.