CVE-2016-8941 in Tivoli Storage Productivity Center
Summary
by MITRE
IBM Tivoli Storage Productivity Center is vulnerable to cross-site request forgery which could allow an attacker to execute malicious and unauthorized actions transmitted from a user that the website trusts.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/09/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-8941 affects IBM Tivoli Storage Productivity Center, a comprehensive storage management solution designed to monitor and optimize storage environments across enterprise networks. This particular weakness represents a critical security flaw that undermines the integrity of the application's authentication mechanisms and user session management. The vulnerability exists within the web interface of the storage management platform, which is accessible through standard web browsers and serves as the primary means of interaction for system administrators and storage managers. The affected system operates under the assumption that any request originating from a trusted user session should be executed without additional verification, creating a fundamental security gap that malicious actors can exploit to perform unauthorized operations.
Cross-site request forgery represents a sophisticated attack vector where an attacker crafts malicious web requests that appear to originate from a legitimate user who has an active session with the target application. In the context of IBM Tivoli Storage Productivity Center, this vulnerability allows an attacker to manipulate the system's storage management functions through carefully constructed requests that leverage the trust relationship between the web application and authenticated users. The flaw occurs because the application fails to implement proper request validation mechanisms that would verify the authenticity of incoming requests beyond basic session tokens. This absence of additional security controls means that when a user visits a malicious website or clicks on a compromised link, the attacker can potentially trigger administrative actions within the storage management system without the user's knowledge or consent. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it affects critical storage management operations that could result in data corruption, unauthorized access to storage resources, or disruption of storage services that are essential to enterprise operations.
The operational impact of this cross-site request forgery vulnerability extends beyond simple unauthorized access to encompass potential business disruption and data integrity compromise. Storage management systems like IBM Tivoli Storage Productivity Center are integral to enterprise data infrastructure, managing critical storage resources that support business operations and data retention policies. An attacker exploiting this vulnerability could perform actions such as modifying storage configurations, creating or deleting storage volumes, altering access permissions, or even initiating storage migration operations that could result in data loss or service interruption. The attack's stealth nature makes it particularly dangerous since users may remain unaware that their authenticated sessions have been exploited to perform malicious operations. From a compliance perspective, this vulnerability could lead to violations of data protection regulations and security standards such as those outlined in the NIST Cybersecurity Framework and ISO 27001, as it represents a failure to maintain proper access controls and user authentication integrity. The potential for cascading effects exists when storage management systems are integrated with other enterprise applications, as unauthorized changes to storage configurations could impact backup operations, data replication processes, and overall system availability.
Organizations utilizing IBM Tivoli Storage Productivity Center should implement immediate mitigation strategies to address this vulnerability. The primary recommendation involves implementing proper anti-CSRF token mechanisms that validate the origin of each request and ensure that requests are intentionally initiated by the authenticated user. This approach aligns with the CWE-352 principle of implementing proper validation of request origins and follows the ATT&CK framework's recommendation for mitigating web application vulnerabilities through proper input validation and request authentication. System administrators should also consider implementing web application firewalls that can detect and block suspicious cross-site requests, as well as establishing robust monitoring procedures to detect unauthorized administrative activities within the storage management environment. Additionally, organizations should conduct comprehensive security assessments to identify other potential vulnerabilities within the storage management infrastructure and ensure that all system components are properly patched and updated according to IBM security advisories. The implementation of multi-factor authentication for storage management interfaces and regular security training for system administrators can further reduce the risk of exploitation. Organizations should also review their access control policies to ensure that only authorized personnel have administrative privileges within the storage management system, thereby limiting the potential impact of any successful CSRF attacks that may occur despite mitigation efforts.