CVE-2017-1103 in Team Concert
Summary
by MITRE
IBM Team Concert (RTC) is vulnerable to a denial of service, caused by an XML External Entity Injection (XXE) error when processing XML data. A remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to expose highly sensitive information or consume all available memory resources. IBM X-Force ID: 120665.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/25/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-1103 affects IBM Team Concert, a collaborative software development platform that facilitates project management and team coordination in software development environments. This security flaw represents a critical XML External Entity Injection vulnerability that fundamentally undermines the system's ability to process incoming XML data safely. The vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation within the XML processing mechanisms of the RTC platform, creating an attack surface where maliciously crafted XML payloads can be exploited by remote adversaries. The impact extends beyond simple service disruption as it enables attackers to access sensitive internal information and potentially exhaust system resources through memory consumption attacks.
The technical exploitation of this XXE vulnerability occurs when the IBM Team Concert application processes XML data without proper sanitization of external entity references. This allows attackers to craft XML requests that reference external resources, enabling them to perform various malicious activities including information disclosure, server-side request forgery, and denial of service conditions. The vulnerability specifically affects the XML parsing functionality within the application's data processing pipeline, where external entity declarations are not properly restricted or validated. Attackers can leverage this weakness to access internal file systems, perform port scanning, or consume excessive memory resources through recursive entity references that cause the application to crash or become unresponsive.
The operational impact of CVE-2017-1103 extends significantly beyond immediate system availability concerns, as it creates opportunities for data exfiltration and system compromise within development environments that rely on IBM Team Concert for project management and collaboration. Organizations using this platform face potential exposure of sensitive development artifacts, source code, configuration files, and other confidential information that may be accessible through the XML processing mechanisms. The vulnerability's remote exploitation capability means that attackers do not require physical access to the system or network, making it particularly dangerous for distributed development teams and cloud-based deployment scenarios. Memory exhaustion attacks can render the application completely unavailable to legitimate users, disrupting development workflows and potentially causing significant business disruption.
Security mitigations for this vulnerability should focus on implementing comprehensive XML parser configurations that disable external entity processing and DTD resolution. Organizations should deploy input validation mechanisms that sanitize all XML data before processing, particularly focusing on removing or escaping special characters that could enable XXE attacks. The recommended approach includes configuring XML parsers to reject external entity declarations and implementing proper access controls to limit XML processing capabilities. Organizations should also consider network segmentation and intrusion detection systems to monitor for suspicious XML processing activities. According to CWE standards, this vulnerability maps to CWE-611 Information Exposure Through XML External Entity Injection, and aligns with ATT&CK techniques involving server-side request forgery and privilege escalation through data manipulation. The remediation process requires immediate patch application from IBM, combined with architectural changes to prevent future occurrences through proper input validation and secure coding practices.