CVE-2016-6112 in Distributed Marketing
Summary
by MITRE
IBM Distributed Marketing and Marketing Platform 8.6, 9.0, 9.1, and 10.0 could allow an authenticated user to escalate their privileges and gain administrative permissions over the web application. IBM X-Force ID: 118282.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/01/2020
This vulnerability resides in IBM Distributed Marketing and Marketing Platform versions 8.6, 9.0, 9.1, and 10.0, representing a critical privilege escalation flaw that directly undermines the security posture of these marketing applications. The vulnerability specifically allows authenticated users to elevate their permissions and gain administrative access to the web application, fundamentally compromising the principle of least privilege that should govern all enterprise applications. The flaw manifests through improper access control mechanisms that fail to properly validate user permissions during critical administrative operations, creating an exploitable path for malicious actors who have already established initial access to the system.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and authorization checks within the application's permission management subsystem. When authenticated users attempt to perform administrative actions, the system fails to properly verify whether the requesting user possesses the necessary elevated privileges. This weakness creates a direct pathway for privilege escalation attacks where a regular user can manipulate application logic or exploit specific API endpoints to assume administrative roles. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it requires only authentication to exploit, meaning that any user who can establish a valid session with the application can potentially gain full administrative control over the entire marketing platform.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability represents a severe threat to enterprise marketing infrastructure and data integrity. An attacker who successfully exploits this privilege escalation flaw can access sensitive marketing data, manipulate campaign configurations, modify user accounts, and potentially disrupt business operations through unauthorized changes to marketing workflows. The vulnerability affects the core functionality of IBM's marketing platform, which typically handles critical business data including customer information, campaign analytics, and marketing automation workflows. This access could enable attackers to conduct data exfiltration, modify marketing strategies, or even disable critical marketing capabilities that organizations rely upon for business operations.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying the relevant IBM security patches and updates that address the privilege escalation vulnerability. Network segmentation and monitoring should be enhanced to detect unusual administrative access patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. Access controls should be reviewed and strengthened to ensure proper user role assignments and least privilege principles are enforced. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-285 which addresses improper authorization in software systems, and it maps to ATT&CK technique T1078 for valid accounts and privilege escalation. Security teams should also consider implementing application-level controls such as mandatory access controls, enhanced session management, and comprehensive logging of administrative activities to detect and prevent exploitation attempts. Organizations using these IBM marketing platforms should prioritize patch management and conduct thorough security assessments to identify any potential exploitation that may have already occurred within their environments.