CVE-2017-11693 in Document Management System
Summary
by MITRE
MEDHOST Document Management System contains hard-coded credentials that are used for customer database access. An attacker with knowledge of the hard-coded credentials and the ability to communicate directly with the database may be able to obtain or modify sensitive patient and financial information. PostgreSQL is used as the Document Management System database. The account name is dms. The password is hard-coded throughout the application, and is the same across all installations. Customers do not have the option to change passwords. The dms account for PostgreSQL has access to the database schema for Document Management System.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/02/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-11693 represents a critical security flaw in the MEDHOST Document Management System that exposes sensitive patient and financial data through hard-coded database credentials. This weakness falls under the CWE-798 category of Using Hard-coded Credentials, which is classified as a high-risk vulnerability in the Common Weakness Enumeration framework. The flaw specifically affects the PostgreSQL database component of the system where the account named 'dms' contains a hard-coded password that remains consistent across all customer installations. This design decision eliminates any possibility for customers to modify or strengthen authentication credentials, creating a universal attack vector that can be exploited by any malicious actor possessing the knowledge of these credentials.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the application's architecture where database authentication credentials are embedded directly within the application code rather than being dynamically configured or stored in secure credential management systems. The hard-coded nature of the password means that regardless of the security measures implemented at the network level or application level, the database remains accessible through this single, unchangeable credential. The PostgreSQL database schema for the Document Management System is directly accessible through this 'dms' account, providing attackers with full read and write privileges to all sensitive data stored within the database. This accounts for both patient medical information and financial records, making the potential impact extremely severe from a regulatory compliance perspective.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple unauthorized access to encompass potential data breaches that could violate healthcare privacy regulations such as HIPAA and financial data protection standards. Attackers with knowledge of these hard-coded credentials can directly communicate with the database without requiring additional authentication steps, bypassing all network-level security controls and application-level access restrictions. The fact that customers cannot change these passwords means that once the credentials are discovered, they remain valid indefinitely across all customer environments, creating a persistent threat that cannot be mitigated through standard password rotation procedures. This vulnerability essentially creates a backdoor that exists in every installation of the system, making it particularly dangerous for organizations that deploy this software across multiple locations or customer bases.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should immediately implement compensating controls such as network segmentation to isolate the database servers from general network access and implement strict firewall rules to limit communication to only authorized systems. The recommended mitigation strategy involves disabling or removing the hard-coded credentials from the application configuration and implementing a proper credential management system that allows for dynamic password assignment and regular rotation. Additionally, network monitoring should be enhanced to detect unauthorized database access attempts and anomalous data access patterns that could indicate exploitation of this vulnerability. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to T1078 Valid Accounts and T1046 Network Service Scanning, as attackers would need to identify valid database accounts and potentially scan for database services to exploit this weakness. The remediation process should include comprehensive security audits of all application components to identify similar hard-coded credentials and ensure that all authentication mechanisms follow secure coding practices and industry standards such as NIST SP 800-53 for access control and authentication requirements.