CVE-2016-9092 in Content Analysis Module
Summary
by MITRE
The Symantec Content Analysis (CA) 1.3, 2.x prior to 2.2.1.1, and Mail Threat Defense (MTD) 1.1 management consoles are susceptible to a cross-site request forging (CSRF) vulnerability. A remote attacker can use phishing or other social engineering techniques to access the management console with the privileges of an authenticated administrator user.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/08/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-9092 represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw affecting Symantec Content Analysis 1.3, 2.x versions prior to 2.2.1.1, and Mail Threat Defense 1.1 management consoles. This security weakness resides in the authentication and authorization mechanisms of these enterprise security management interfaces, creating a significant risk for organizations relying on Symantec's threat detection and content analysis solutions. The flaw stems from insufficient validation of request origins and lack of proper anti-CSRF token implementation within the web-based administrative interfaces, allowing malicious actors to exploit the trust relationship between authenticated users and the web application.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through social engineering techniques where attackers craft malicious web pages or emails that, when visited by an authenticated administrator, automatically submit requests to the vulnerable management console. These forged requests can perform administrative actions such as modifying security policies, adding new users, changing system configurations, or accessing sensitive data without the administrator's knowledge or consent. The vulnerability specifically targets the management console interfaces, which typically require elevated privileges and provide access to critical system controls, making the impact particularly severe for enterprise environments that depend on these security solutions for protecting their networks and data.
The operational impact of CVE-2016-9092 extends beyond simple unauthorized access, as it allows attackers to assume complete administrative control over the affected Symantec security appliances. This privilege escalation capability means that an attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability can fundamentally compromise the security posture of the organization's email and content analysis systems. The attack vector through phishing campaigns makes this vulnerability particularly dangerous as it requires minimal technical expertise from threat actors while potentially yielding maximum damage. Organizations using these management consoles face risks including data breaches, system compromise, and potential lateral movement within their networks, as the compromised management interfaces often serve as entry points for broader attacks.
Organizations should immediately implement mitigations including applying the vendor-provided patches and updates released for Symantec Content Analysis and Mail Threat Defense products, specifically versions 2.2.1.1 and later for Content Analysis and 1.1.1 and later for Mail Threat Defense. Network segmentation and firewall rules should be implemented to restrict access to management interfaces to trusted administrative networks only, while implementing strong authentication mechanisms including multi-factor authentication. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses cross-site request forgery weaknesses in web applications, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1078 for valid accounts and T1566 for social engineering, highlighting the multi-layered attack approach required to exploit this flaw effectively. Security monitoring should be enhanced to detect unusual administrative activities or unauthorized configuration changes that might indicate successful exploitation of this vulnerability.