CVE-2017-4998 in RSA Archer
Summary
by MITRE
EMC RSA Archer 5.4.1.3, 5.5.3.1, 5.5.2.3, 5.5.2, 5.5.1.3.1, 5.5.1.1 is potentially affected by a cross-site request forgery vulnerability. A remote low privileged attacker may potentially exploit the vulnerability to execute unauthorized requests on behalf of the victim, using the authenticated user's privileges.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/31/2020
The CVE-2017-4998 vulnerability affects EMC RSA Archer versions 5.4.1.3, 5.5.3.1, 5.5.2.3, 5.5.2, 5.5.1.3.1, and 5.5.1.1, representing a critical cross-site request forgery flaw that undermines the application's security posture. This vulnerability resides within the web application's authentication and session management mechanisms, specifically targeting the absence of proper anti-CSRF protection measures in the application's request processing flow. The flaw allows malicious actors to manipulate authenticated user sessions through carefully crafted requests that leverage the victim's existing privileges, creating a significant risk for organizations relying on RSA Archer for business process management and risk assessment workflows.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the application's failure to validate the origin of incoming HTTP requests, particularly in forms and actions that modify user data or perform administrative functions. When a legitimate user accesses the RSA Archer application, their session cookie remains active and valid, but without proper CSRF token validation or referer header checking, malicious actors can construct web pages or send crafted requests that automatically submit actions on behalf of authenticated users. This flaw operates at the application layer and directly violates the principle of least privilege, as it allows attackers with minimal privileges to potentially escalate their access and perform unauthorized operations within the application's administrative interface.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data theft or modification, as it can enable attackers to manipulate critical business processes and risk assessment workflows that organizations depend upon for governance and compliance. An attacker could potentially create new user accounts, modify existing records, change access permissions, or even delete critical data within the RSA Archer environment. Given that RSA Archer is commonly used for compliance management, risk assessment, and business process automation, the exploitation of this CSRF vulnerability could result in significant operational disruption and regulatory compliance violations. The low privilege requirement for exploitation means that even basic users or attackers with minimal access can potentially cause substantial damage to the organization's risk management infrastructure.
Organizations should implement multiple layers of defense to mitigate this vulnerability, starting with immediate patching of affected RSA Archer versions to the latest available releases that include proper CSRF token implementation. The remediation strategy should incorporate the mandatory use of anti-CSRF tokens for all state-changing operations, proper referer header validation, and implementation of the SameSite cookie attributes where applicable. Security teams must also conduct comprehensive testing of the application's CSRF protection mechanisms and establish monitoring procedures to detect unauthorized modifications to critical business process data. Additionally, network segmentation and access controls should be reviewed to limit the potential impact of successful CSRF exploitation, while regular security assessments should be performed to identify similar vulnerabilities in other enterprise applications. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses cross-site request forgery, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1531 which covers "Modify System Image" through the exploitation of authentication mechanisms. The remediation approach should follow NIST SP 800-53 requirements for secure coding practices and application security controls to prevent similar vulnerabilities in future development cycles.