CVE-2016-8737 in Brooklyn
Summary
by MITRE
In Apache Brooklyn before 0.10.0, the REST server is vulnerable to cross-site request forgery (CSRF), which could permit a malicious web site to produce a link which, if clicked whilst a user is logged in to Brooklyn, would cause the server to execute the attacker's commands as the user. There is known to be a proof-of-concept exploit using this vulnerability.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/15/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-8737 represents a critical cross-site request forgery weakness in Apache Brooklyn versions prior to 0.10.0. This security flaw resides within the REST server component of the application, which serves as the primary interface for programmatic access to Brooklyn's management capabilities. The vulnerability arises from insufficient validation of request origins and lack of proper anti-CSRF token implementation in the web service endpoints that handle administrative operations.
The technical nature of this flaw allows attackers to craft malicious web pages that contain hidden requests to the Brooklyn REST API. When authenticated users navigate to these malicious sites and their browsers automatically submit requests to the Brooklyn server, the system processes these commands with the privileges of the logged-in user. This creates a scenario where attackers can execute arbitrary operations such as creating new applications, modifying existing deployments, or accessing sensitive configuration data without the user's knowledge or explicit consent. The vulnerability specifically affects the server-side REST endpoints that handle administrative functions, making it particularly dangerous for environments where Brooklyn is used for cloud orchestration and application management.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data theft or modification. Since Brooklyn is commonly used for managing complex cloud infrastructure deployments, successful exploitation could lead to complete compromise of the orchestration environment. Attackers could deploy malicious applications, modify existing configurations, or even gain access to underlying cloud resources through Brooklyn's integration capabilities. The presence of a known proof-of-concept exploit means that this vulnerability was actively being exploited in the wild, making it a pressing concern for organizations running affected versions of Apache Brooklyn. This type of vulnerability directly violates the principle of least privilege and can result in significant operational disruption, data loss, and potential regulatory compliance violations.
Organizations should immediately upgrade to Apache Brooklyn version 0.10.0 or later, which includes proper CSRF protection mechanisms. The fix typically involves implementing anti-CSRF tokens in all state-changing requests and validating the origin of incoming requests to ensure they originate from legitimate sources within the same domain. Security teams should also review their network configurations to limit access to Brooklyn's REST endpoints to trusted networks only, while implementing additional monitoring for suspicious API usage patterns. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses cross-site request forgery weaknesses, and represents a classic example of how web application security flaws can be exploited to gain unauthorized administrative access to critical infrastructure management systems. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this as a privilege escalation technique, where an attacker leverages existing authenticated sessions to perform actions beyond their intended scope, potentially leading to complete system compromise.