CVE-2016-6037 in Rational Team Concert
Summary
by MITRE
IBM Rational Team Concert (RTC) is vulnerable to HTML injection. A remote attacker with project administrator privileges could send a project that contains malicious HTML code, which when the project is viewed, would be executed in the victim's Web browser within the security context of the hosting site. IBM X-Force ID: 116918.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/25/2020
IBM Rational Team Concert version 5.0.0 through 5.0.2 contains a critical html injection vulnerability that allows remote attackers with project administrator privileges to execute malicious code within victim browsers. This vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and output encoding mechanisms within the project viewing functionality, creating an environment where attacker-controlled html content can be seamlessly integrated into legitimate web pages. The flaw specifically manifests when project data containing malicious html tags is processed and displayed to users, enabling attackers to inject javascript payloads that execute in the context of the authenticated user's session.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability aligns with common web application security weaknesses documented in CWE-79, which describes cross-site scripting vulnerabilities resulting from improper sanitization of user-supplied data. The attack vector requires an attacker to possess project administrator privileges, which elevates the risk significantly as this role typically has broad access to project data and configuration settings. When a victim views a maliciously crafted project, the embedded html code executes within the browser context of the RTC application, potentially allowing for session hijacking, data exfiltration, or further exploitation of the authenticated user's privileges.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple html injection, as it enables sophisticated attack scenarios that can compromise entire user sessions and potentially provide attackers with access to sensitive project data, development artifacts, and collaboration information. The security implications are particularly severe in enterprise environments where RTC is used for critical software development workflows, as compromised sessions could lead to unauthorized code changes, data manipulation, or access to proprietary intellectual property. This vulnerability represents a significant threat to the integrity of development processes and collaboration environments that depend on RTC for project management and team coordination.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including enhanced input validation for all project data, strict html sanitization before display, and comprehensive user privilege management to limit administrator access to only necessary personnel. The implementation of content security policies and proper output encoding mechanisms would significantly reduce the attack surface and prevent successful exploitation. Additionally, regular security assessments and monitoring of user activities within RTC environments would help detect anomalous behavior that might indicate exploitation attempts. Organizations should also consider implementing network segmentation and access controls to limit the potential impact of successful attacks, while maintaining detailed audit logs for forensic analysis and incident response activities.