CVE-2017-1568 in Rational Quality Manager
Summary
by MITRE
IBM Rational Quality Manager and IBM Rational Collaborative Lifecycle Management 5.0 through 5.0.2 and 6.0 through 6.0.5 are vulnerable to cross-site scripting. This vulnerability allows users to embed arbitrary JavaScript code in the Web UI thus altering the intended functionality potentially leading to credentials disclosure within a trusted session. IBM X-Force ID: 131778.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/03/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-1568 affects IBM Rational Quality Manager and IBM Rational Collaborative Lifecycle Management versions 5.0 through 5.0.2 and 6.0 through 6.0.5, representing a critical cross-site scripting flaw that compromises the security integrity of these enterprise quality management platforms. This vulnerability resides within the web user interface components of these applications, where insufficient input validation and output encoding mechanisms fail to properly sanitize user-supplied data before rendering it in web pages. The flaw enables malicious actors to inject malicious JavaScript code through crafted input fields, which then executes in the context of other users' sessions within the same application environment.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate sanitization of user inputs in web forms and data entry points within the Rational Quality Manager and Collaborative Lifecycle Management platforms. When users submit data through web interfaces, the applications fail to properly validate or encode special characters that could be interpreted as HTML or JavaScript code. This weakness allows attackers to construct malicious payloads that, when processed by the application's web server, get executed in the browsers of legitimate users who subsequently view the affected content. The vulnerability specifically targets the web UI components where users can input text, comments, or other data fields that are subsequently displayed without proper security filtering.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution, as it can lead to complete session hijacking and credential theft within trusted user sessions. When a victim user views content containing malicious JavaScript, the injected code can access session cookies, form data, and other sensitive information that the user's browser has stored. This enables attackers to impersonate legitimate users, access restricted functionality, and potentially escalate privileges within the application. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where these tools are used for quality assurance and lifecycle management, as it could compromise sensitive project data, test results, and development artifacts. According to the IBM X-Force ID 131778, this vulnerability represents a significant risk to organizations relying on these platforms for critical software development processes.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2017-1568 should focus on immediate patch application from IBM, which would address the underlying input validation and output encoding flaws in the affected versions. Organizations should implement comprehensive web application firewall rules to detect and block suspicious JavaScript patterns in user inputs, while also establishing strict input validation policies that sanitize all user-supplied data before processing. The remediation process should include disabling unnecessary JavaScript functionality in the web interfaces where possible, implementing proper content security policies, and conducting thorough security testing of all user input fields. Organizations should also consider implementing additional monitoring and logging mechanisms to detect potential exploitation attempts, and establish incident response procedures to quickly address any successful attacks that may occur. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-79, which specifically addresses cross-site scripting flaws in web applications, and represents a common attack vector that aligns with ATT&CK technique T1059.007 for scripting languages, making it a critical concern for enterprise security teams managing development lifecycle platforms.