CVE-2016-9746 in Team Concert
Summary
by MITRE
IBM Team Concert (RTC) 4.0, 5.0 and 6.0 is vulnerable to cross-site scripting. This vulnerability allows users to embed arbitrary JavaScript code in the Web UI thus altering the intended functionality potentially leading to credentials disclosure within a trusted session. IBM X-Force ID: 119821.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/30/2020
IBM Team Concert versions 4.0, 5.0, and 6.0 contain a cross-site scripting vulnerability that represents a critical security flaw in the web-based user interface. This vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and output encoding mechanisms within the application's web components, allowing malicious actors to inject malicious JavaScript code through user input fields or parameters. The flaw specifically affects the web UI rendering process where user-supplied data is not properly sanitized before being displayed back to other users, creating an environment where attackers can execute arbitrary code within the context of a victim's browser session.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability aligns with CWE-79, which describes cross-site scripting flaws where untrusted data is directly included in web pages without proper sanitization or encoding. Attackers can exploit this weakness by crafting malicious input that, when processed by the RTC application, gets executed in the browser of other users who view the affected content. The vulnerability's impact extends beyond simple script execution to potentially enable session hijacking and credential theft, as the injected JavaScript can access and exfiltrate sensitive information from authenticated sessions. This represents a significant threat to enterprise environments where RTC is used for collaboration and project management, as it can compromise the integrity of development workflows and access controls.
The operational consequences of this vulnerability are severe for organizations relying on IBM Team Concert for their development processes. A successful XSS attack could allow attackers to steal session cookies, modify project data, access confidential source code repositories, or even escalate privileges within the application. The trusted session aspect mentioned in the vulnerability description indicates that the malicious code executes with the privileges of authenticated users, potentially providing access to sensitive development environments and intellectual property. This vulnerability particularly affects organizations using RTC for source code management, issue tracking, and team collaboration, where the exposure of credentials or modification of project data could result in significant business disruption and security breaches.
Organizations should implement multiple layers of defense to mitigate this vulnerability, beginning with immediate application updates to patched versions of IBM Team Concert. The mitigation strategy should include input validation and output encoding controls that align with OWASP Top Ten recommendations for XSS prevention. Security teams should conduct comprehensive assessments of their RTC deployments to identify all potential entry points for malicious input, while also implementing Content Security Policy headers to limit script execution capabilities. Network-level protections such as web application firewalls can provide additional monitoring and blocking capabilities for suspicious requests. Regular security testing including dynamic application security testing and manual penetration testing should be conducted to ensure that similar vulnerabilities are not present in other components of the development infrastructure. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of maintaining current security patches and following secure coding practices throughout the software development lifecycle to prevent similar issues from emerging in custom applications built on or integrated with RTC.