CVE-2016-9271 in Manager
Summary
by MITRE
Cloudera Manager 5.7.x before 5.7.6, 5.8.x before 5.8.4, and 5.9.x before 5.9.1 allows XSS in the help search feature.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/27/2019
Cloudera Manager serves as a critical management platform for apache hadoop clusters, providing centralized administration and monitoring capabilities for big data environments. The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-9271 affects specific versions of this management software, creating a cross-site scripting weakness that can be exploited by malicious actors to inject arbitrary web scripts into the help search functionality. This issue manifests in versions 5.7.x prior to 5.7.6, 5.8.x prior to 5.8.4, and 5.9.x prior to 5.9.1, representing a significant security gap in the platform's input validation mechanisms. The flaw specifically targets the help search feature, which users employ to find documentation and assistance within the cloudera manager interface, making it a prime target for attackers seeking to compromise user sessions or extract sensitive information.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate sanitization of user input within the help search functionality. When users enter search queries into the help system, the application fails to properly validate or escape the input before rendering it in the web interface. This allows an attacker to craft malicious search terms containing javascript code or other malicious payloads that execute in the context of other users' browsers. The vulnerability maps directly to CWE-79 - cross-site scripting, which is classified as a critical weakness in the common weakness enumeration catalog. The attack vector operates through standard web browser mechanisms where the malicious input is processed by the server and subsequently delivered to unsuspecting users who perform searches, creating a persistent threat that can affect multiple users within the same management environment. The attack can be categorized under the ATT&CK technique T1212 - exploitation for credential access, as the XSS vulnerability could potentially be leveraged to steal session cookies or other authentication tokens.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script injection, as it can enable attackers to perform session hijacking, steal sensitive configuration data, or manipulate the management interface to perform unauthorized operations. Users accessing the cloudera manager interface become potential victims of this attack, with their browser sessions at risk of being compromised. The vulnerability particularly affects organizations that rely heavily on cloudera manager for cluster administration, as attackers could exploit this weakness to gain unauthorized access to critical big data infrastructure management functions. The attack requires minimal privileges to execute, as it operates entirely within the web browser context and does not require direct system access or elevated permissions. Organizations using affected versions face significant risk, particularly in environments where multiple administrators access the same management platform, as a single compromised session could provide attackers with broad access to cluster configurations and management capabilities.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability involve immediate patching of cloudera manager installations to versions 5.7.6, 5.8.4, or 5.9.1, which contain the necessary input validation fixes. Organizations should also implement additional defensive measures including browser security policies such as content security policy headers to limit script execution capabilities, regular security audits of web applications, and enhanced monitoring of user activity within the management interface. Network segmentation and access controls should be reviewed to limit exposure of the cloudera manager interface to trusted networks only. Security awareness training for administrators can help identify potential exploitation attempts, while implementing web application firewalls may provide additional protection layers against similar vulnerabilities. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper input validation in web applications and highlights the need for continuous security assessment of management interfaces in complex distributed systems. Organizations should also consider implementing automated vulnerability scanning tools to identify similar weaknesses in other components of their big data infrastructure, as this vulnerability represents a common pattern that may exist in other applications within the same ecosystem.