CVE-2016-6018 in Emptoris Contract Management
Summary
by MITRE
IBM Emptoris Contract Management 10.0 and 10.1 reveals detailed error messages in certain features that could cause an attacker to gain additional information to conduct further attacks. IBM X-Force ID: 116738.
If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/04/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-6018 affects IBM Emptoris Contract Management versions 10.0 and 10.1, representing a critical information disclosure weakness that exposes detailed system error messages to unauthorized users. This vulnerability falls under the category of insufficient error handling and improper error message disclosure as classified by CWE-209, which directly aligns with the broader ATT&CK framework's technique T1082 for system information discovery. The flaw manifests when specific features within the contract management system generate verbose error responses that contain sensitive technical information about the underlying system architecture, database configurations, and potentially even file paths or stack traces.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the application's failure to sanitize error messages before presenting them to end users. When certain operations within the contract management interface encounter issues, the system responds with detailed error reports that include database connection details, server configuration information, and potentially even internal system paths. This behavior creates a goldmine of information for attackers who can leverage these disclosures to understand the system's attack surface and identify potential entry points for more sophisticated exploitation techniques. The vulnerability specifically impacts the application's error handling mechanisms, where developers have not implemented proper error suppression or generic error message generation that would prevent sensitive data exposure.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability significantly increases the risk profile of the affected IBM Emptoris Contract Management systems by enabling attackers to gather intelligence that could facilitate subsequent attacks. The detailed error messages provide attackers with information about the database schema, server environment, and system configurations that would normally remain hidden from external observers. This intelligence can be used to craft more targeted attacks, such as SQL injection attempts or other database-related exploits that specifically target the discovered system characteristics. The vulnerability also creates opportunities for attackers to map the application's architecture and identify potential weak points in the system's security posture, effectively reducing the attack surface complexity for malicious actors.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should implement immediate mitigations focused on standard error handling practices and proper error message sanitization. The recommended approach involves configuring the application to return generic, non-descriptive error messages to users while logging detailed technical information internally for legitimate administrative purposes. This practice aligns with security best practices outlined in the OWASP Top Ten and follows the principle of least privilege in error reporting. System administrators should also consider implementing web application firewalls that can filter and sanitize error responses, as well as establishing proper logging procedures that capture error information without exposing it to end users. Additionally, regular security assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to ensure that similar information disclosure vulnerabilities do not exist in other components of the system, as this type of vulnerability often indicates broader architectural weaknesses in error handling practices.