CVE-2016-7107 in Unified Maintenance Audit
Summary
by MITRE
Huawei Unified Maintenance Audit (UMA) before V200R001C00SPC200 SPH206 allows remote attackers to reset arbitrary user passwords and consequently affect system data integrity via unspecified vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/15/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-7107 affects Huawei Unified Maintenance Audit (UMA) systems running versions prior to V200R001C00SPC200 SPH206, representing a critical security flaw that undermines the integrity and confidentiality of enterprise network management systems. This vulnerability resides within the authentication and access control mechanisms of Huawei's network maintenance platform, which serves as a central point for managing and auditing network operations across enterprise infrastructures. The UMA system acts as a critical component in maintaining network security posture by providing centralized access control and audit capabilities for network devices and administrative functions.
The technical flaw manifests through unspecified vectors that enable remote attackers to manipulate the password reset functionality of arbitrary user accounts within the UMA system. This weakness directly violates fundamental security principles of authentication and access control, creating a pathway for unauthorized individuals to gain elevated privileges without proper authorization. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and leverages weaknesses in the system's user management and authentication protocols, allowing attackers to exploit the password reset mechanism to compromise user accounts and potentially gain deeper system access. The unspecified nature of the attack vectors suggests the flaw may be present in multiple components of the authentication process or could be triggered through various network-based attack scenarios.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple credential compromise, as successful exploitation directly threatens system data integrity and can lead to unauthorized access to sensitive network management functions. Attackers who successfully reset arbitrary user passwords can potentially gain administrative privileges within the UMA system, enabling them to modify network configurations, access confidential audit logs, and manipulate system data. This capability creates a significant risk to enterprise network security, as the UMA system serves as a central hub for maintaining network integrity and security policies. The vulnerability essentially allows attackers to bypass authentication mechanisms and assume legitimate user identities, potentially leading to widespread system compromise and data breaches.
This vulnerability aligns with CWE-305 authentication weakness and maps to attack techniques within the MITRE ATT&CK framework under credential access and privilege escalation domains. The flaw represents a classic example of insufficient authentication checks and inadequate access control validation, which are commonly exploited in enterprise network environments. Organizations utilizing affected Huawei UMA systems face heightened risk of insider threats and external attacks, as the vulnerability enables attackers to establish persistent access to critical network management functions. The impact is particularly severe given that UMA systems typically maintain administrative access to numerous network devices and serve as gateways to enterprise network infrastructure.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2016-7107 require immediate deployment of Huawei's official security patches and firmware updates to address the password reset mechanism vulnerabilities. Organizations should implement network segmentation and access controls to limit exposure of UMA systems to untrusted networks, while also establishing robust monitoring for unauthorized password reset activities. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be conducted to identify similar weaknesses in related systems, and administrative access to UMA systems should be restricted to trusted personnel with proper authentication mechanisms. Additionally, organizations should implement multi-factor authentication for administrative accounts and establish comprehensive audit trails to detect and respond to unauthorized access attempts. The vulnerability underscores the importance of maintaining up-to-date security patches and implementing defense-in-depth strategies to protect critical network infrastructure components.