CVE-2016-5937 in Kenexa LCMS Premier on Cloud
Summary
by MITRE
IBM Kenexa LCMS Premier on Cloud is vulnerable to cross-site request forgery which could allow an attacker to execute malicious and unauthorized actions transmitted from a user that the website trusts.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/09/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-5937 affects IBM Kenexa LCMS Premier on Cloud, a cloud-based learning content management system that enables organizations to create, manage, and deliver learning content. This system is widely used in enterprise environments for managing employee training and development programs, making it a critical component of organizational knowledge management infrastructure. The vulnerability manifests as a cross-site request forgery weakness that compromises the system's ability to distinguish between legitimate user requests and maliciously crafted requests originating from trusted domains.
Cross-site request forgery represents a significant web application security flaw that occurs when an application fails to properly validate the source of HTTP requests. In the context of IBM Kenexa LCMS Premier on Cloud, this vulnerability allows attackers to exploit the trust relationship between the application and its users. When a legitimate user accesses the system, their browser maintains authentication credentials that are automatically included with subsequent requests. An attacker can craft malicious web pages or emails containing embedded requests that, when executed by an authenticated user, perform unauthorized actions within the application's context. This flaw falls under the CWE-352 category of Cross-Site Request Forgery, which is classified as a critical security weakness in web applications.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data theft or modification. An attacker with successful exploitation could potentially modify user permissions, create new user accounts, access sensitive training materials, or manipulate learning content that affects organizational knowledge management. In enterprise environments, this could lead to unauthorized access to proprietary training data, disruption of learning programs, or even data exfiltration through manipulation of content management features. The cloud-based nature of the application amplifies the risk as compromised sessions could affect multiple users and potentially impact the entire organization's learning management infrastructure. This vulnerability directly aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566.001 for initial access through spearphishing attachments and T1078 for valid accounts, as it leverages existing user trust relationships to execute unauthorized operations.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2016-5937 should prioritize immediate implementation of anti-CSRF tokens within the application's request handling mechanisms. Organizations should ensure that all state-changing operations require the inclusion of unique, unpredictable tokens that are validated against the user's session. The implementation should follow established security frameworks such as OWASP's CSRF Prevention Cheat Sheet, which recommends using synchronizer tokens, custom headers, or SameSite cookies as effective defenses. Additionally, implementing proper session management practices including session timeout controls, secure cookie attributes, and regular security audits of web application components will help reduce the attack surface. Organizations should also consider network-level protections such as web application firewalls and monitoring systems that can detect anomalous request patterns. Regular security assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to verify the effectiveness of implemented controls, while also ensuring that the application vendor has provided appropriate patches or updates to address the vulnerability. The remediation process should include comprehensive testing to ensure that the CSRF protections do not negatively impact legitimate user functionality while providing robust defense against unauthorized operations.