CVE-2017-1442 in Emptoris Services Procurement
Summary
by MITRE
IBM Emptoris Services Procurement 10.0.0.5 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: 128107.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/10/2021
IBM Emptoris Services Procurement version 10.0.0.5 contains a critical cross-site request forgery vulnerability that enables attackers to perform unauthorized actions on behalf of authenticated users. This vulnerability resides in the web application's failure to properly validate and authenticate request origins, creating a significant security gap in the application's defense mechanisms. The flaw allows malicious actors to craft deceptive requests that appear legitimate to the application's security systems, exploiting the trust relationship between the user's browser and the vulnerable system. According to CWE-352, this represents a classic cross-site request forgery vulnerability where the application does not adequately verify that requests originate from legitimate sources within the same site.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the application's insufficient protection against CSRF attacks, particularly in the procurement workflow processes where sensitive operations such as purchasing approvals, vendor management, and contract modifications occur. Attackers can leverage this weakness by enticing victims to click on malicious links or visit compromised websites that automatically submit forged requests to the Emptoris application. These requests can execute administrative functions, modify procurement records, or alter user permissions without the victim's knowledge or consent. The vulnerability impacts the application's integrity and availability by allowing unauthorized modifications to the procurement system's operational state.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data manipulation to encompass potential financial losses, compliance violations, and system compromise. An attacker who successfully exploits this CSRF vulnerability could gain unauthorized access to procurement processes, potentially leading to fraudulent purchases, unauthorized vendor additions, or modification of existing contracts. The attack vector typically involves social engineering tactics where users are directed to malicious sites through phishing campaigns or compromised web pages, making this vulnerability particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where procurement systems handle sensitive business transactions. This weakness directly violates the principle of least privilege and can lead to privilege escalation within the procurement domain.
Organizations using IBM Emptoris Services Procurement should implement comprehensive mitigation strategies to address this vulnerability. The primary recommendation involves implementing anti-CSRF tokens within all state-changing requests to ensure that each transaction is properly authenticated and originates from legitimate user interactions. Additionally, organizations should deploy proper origin validation mechanisms and implement Content Security Policy headers to prevent unauthorized script execution. The solution aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566 which covers social engineering attacks and emphasizes the importance of validating request authenticity. IBM has issued patches and updates to address this vulnerability, and organizations should immediately apply these security updates while also conducting thorough security assessments of their procurement workflows to identify potential additional attack vectors. The mitigation approach should include network segmentation, monitoring for suspicious procurement activities, and user education programs to reduce the risk of successful social engineering attacks targeting this specific vulnerability.