CVE-2016-9991 in Sterling Order Management
Summary
by MITRE
IBM Sterling Order Management 9.2 through 9.5 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. IBM X-Force ID: 121314.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/26/2020
IBM Sterling Order Management version 9.2 through 9.5 contains a critical cross-site request forgery vulnerability that exposes the system to unauthorized administrative actions. This flaw resides in the web application's failure to properly validate and authenticate request origins, allowing malicious actors to exploit trusted user sessions. The vulnerability specifically affects the order management interface where legitimate users with administrative privileges can be tricked into executing unintended operations without their knowledge or consent. Attackers can craft malicious requests that appear to originate from authenticated users, leveraging the trust relationship between the application and its legitimate users to perform unauthorized modifications to order data, user permissions, or system configurations.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the absence of proper anti-forgery tokens in critical web requests within the Sterling Order Management application. When users navigate to the application and authenticate, their session remains active, but subsequent requests lack sufficient validation mechanisms to verify that they originated from the legitimate user interface rather than from malicious third-party websites or embedded attack vectors. This weakness aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery vulnerabilities in web applications. The flaw allows attackers to manipulate order processing workflows, potentially leading to financial loss, data corruption, or unauthorized access to sensitive customer information. The attack typically involves embedding malicious links or scripts in compromised websites that automatically submit requests to the vulnerable Sterling Order Management system while the user remains authenticated.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data manipulation to encompass potential business disruption and financial damage. An attacker could exploit this weakness to modify order statuses, cancel legitimate orders, create fraudulent orders, or alter customer data within the system. The consequences are particularly severe in order management environments where transactional integrity is paramount, as unauthorized changes could result in revenue loss, customer dissatisfaction, and regulatory compliance violations. Organizations using Sterling Order Management in e-commerce or supply chain environments face heightened risk since these systems often handle sensitive financial transactions and personal customer data. The vulnerability also creates opportunities for attackers to escalate privileges or establish persistent access patterns within the system, making it a significant concern for enterprise security postures.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including the deployment of anti-forgery tokens for all state-changing requests within the Sterling Order Management interface, proper implementation of the SameSite cookie attributes, and enforcement of strict referer header validation. The application should be configured to require explicit user confirmation for critical operations, and administrators should review and restrict user permissions to minimize potential damage from successful exploitation attempts. Network-level protections such as web application firewalls should be deployed to monitor and filter suspicious requests targeting the vulnerable endpoints. Regular security assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to identify similar vulnerabilities in related systems. Additionally, organizations should ensure that all systems are updated to the latest available patches from IBM, as the vendor has addressed this specific vulnerability in subsequent releases. This remediation approach aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566, which covers credential harvesting and session hijacking through social engineering and web application attacks, emphasizing the need for comprehensive defensive measures against CSRF threats.