CVE-2017-1398 in WebSphere Commerce
Summary
by MITRE
IBM WebSphere Commerce Enterprise, Professional, Express, and Developer 6.0, 7.0, and 8.0 could allow a remote attacker to conduct phishing attacks, using an open redirect attack. By persuading a victim to visit a specially-crafted Web site, a remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to spoof the URL displayed to redirect a user to a malicious Web site that would appear to be trusted. This could allow the attacker to obtain highly sensitive information or conduct further attacks against the victim. IBM X-Force ID: 127385.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/31/2020
This vulnerability exists in IBM WebSphere Commerce versions 6.0, 7.0, and 8.0 across Enterprise, Professional, Express, and Developer editions. The flaw represents a classic open redirect vulnerability that enables attackers to manipulate URL redirection behavior in a way that facilitates phishing attacks. The technical implementation allows an attacker to craft malicious URLs that appear to lead to legitimate IBM WebSphere Commerce domains while actually redirecting users to attacker-controlled malicious websites. This type of vulnerability falls under CWE-601 Open Redirect, which is categorized as a security weakness where applications redirect users to external sites without proper validation of the target URL. The vulnerability specifically impacts the web application's redirect functionality and demonstrates a failure in input validation and sanitization of redirect parameters.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant as it enables sophisticated social engineering attacks that can bypass user security awareness. When users click on malicious links, they are redirected to sites that appear legitimate due to the URL spoofing mechanism, making it difficult for victims to distinguish between trusted and malicious domains. This creates an ideal environment for credential theft, malware distribution, and additional attack vectors. The vulnerability particularly affects users who may trust the IBM WebSphere Commerce brand, making the phishing attacks more convincing and potentially more successful. According to ATT&CK framework, this represents a technique categorized under T1566 Phishing, specifically leveraging web application vulnerabilities to establish initial compromise vectors. The attack chain typically involves crafting malicious URLs that exploit the redirect functionality, delivering the payload through the redirected traffic, and potentially establishing persistent access or exfiltrating sensitive data.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should implement immediate mitigations including validating all redirect parameters against a whitelist of approved domains, implementing proper URL sanitization, and disabling unnecessary redirect functionality where possible. The recommended approach involves configuring the web application to only allow redirects to trusted domains and implementing strict input validation for all redirect parameters. Security teams should also conduct thorough penetration testing to identify all potential redirect endpoints and ensure proper validation controls are in place. Additional defensive measures include implementing web application firewalls that can detect and block suspicious redirect patterns, monitoring for unusual redirect behaviors in web logs, and educating users about recognizing phishing attempts. The vulnerability highlights the critical importance of proper input validation and output encoding in web applications, particularly in enterprise commerce platforms where user trust and data security are paramount. Organizations should also consider implementing security headers such as Content Security Policy to further restrict redirect behaviors and reduce the attack surface.