CVE-2017-14053 in OnCommand Unified Manager for Clustered Data ONTAP
Summary
by MITRE
NetApp OnCommand Unified Manager for Clustered Data ONTAP before 7.2P1 does not set the secure flag for an unspecified cookie in an HTTPS session, which makes it easier for remote attackers to capture this cookie by intercepting its transmission within an HTTP session.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/12/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-14053 affects NetApp OnCommand Unified Manager for Clustered Data ONTAP versions prior to 7.2P1, representing a significant security weakness in the management interface's handling of session cookies. This flaw resides in the application's failure to properly configure security attributes for session management elements, specifically impacting how cookies are transmitted during HTTPS sessions. The vulnerability creates an attack surface that allows malicious actors to potentially intercept and exploit session data, undermining the security posture of organizations relying on this management platform for their storage infrastructure.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the absence of the secure flag on a critical cookie within the HTTPS communication channel. This configuration oversight means that even though the application may be using HTTPS for encryption, the cookie itself lacks the necessary security attributes to prevent transmission over unencrypted channels. The secure flag is a critical HTTP cookie attribute that instructs browsers to only send the cookie over secure HTTPS connections, preventing interception during transmission between client and server. Without this flag, the cookie becomes vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks where attackers can capture the cookie during network transmission, particularly when users might inadvertently navigate to HTTP versions of the site or when network traffic is intercepted.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple session hijacking, as it creates opportunities for attackers to gain unauthorized access to administrative functions within the NetApp storage management environment. This weakness enables remote attackers to potentially impersonate legitimate users and perform administrative actions on the storage systems, potentially leading to data compromise, system manipulation, or unauthorized access to sensitive storage infrastructure. The vulnerability particularly affects organizations that rely heavily on centralized storage management, where the compromise of a single administrative session could provide access to multiple storage resources managed through the OnCommand Unified Manager platform. This issue aligns with CWE-614, which specifically addresses the insecure transmission of sensitive data due to missing security attributes in HTTP cookies, and represents a classic example of how seemingly minor configuration oversights can create significant security risks in enterprise storage management systems.
Organizations should implement immediate remediation measures by upgrading to NetApp OnCommand Unified Manager version 7.2P1 or later, which contains the necessary patches to properly configure the secure flag for all session cookies. Additionally, network administrators should conduct comprehensive security assessments of their storage management environments to identify any other applications or services that might be suffering from similar cookie configuration issues. The mitigation strategy should include network monitoring to detect potential interception attempts and implementation of additional security controls such as multi-factor authentication for administrative access. This vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of proper cookie security configuration in web applications and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566, which covers credential harvesting through phishing and social engineering, as attackers can exploit this weakness to obtain administrative credentials through session interception. Organizations should also consider implementing network segmentation and access controls to limit exposure of management interfaces to privileged users only, reducing the potential impact of such credential compromise incidents.