CVE-2017-7419 in NetIQ Access Manager
Summary
by MITRE
A OAuth application in NetIQ Access Manager 4.3 before 4.3.2 and 4.2 before 4.2.4 allowed cross site scripting attacks due to unescaped "description" field that could be specified by the provider.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/16/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-7419 affects NetIQ Access Manager versions prior to 4.3.2 and 4.2.4, representing a critical cross site scripting flaw within the OAuth application framework. This security weakness stems from inadequate input validation and output escaping mechanisms within the system's authentication infrastructure. The vulnerability specifically targets the "description" field parameter that can be manipulated by external providers during OAuth integration processes, creating a persistent vector for malicious code injection attacks.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs when an attacker crafts a malicious description field containing crafted script payloads that are subsequently rendered within the application's user interface without proper HTML escaping or sanitization. This unescaped output allows attackers to inject malicious javascript code that executes in the context of authenticated users' browsers. The flaw aligns with CWE-79 which categorizes cross site scripting vulnerabilities as weaknesses in input validation and output encoding. The vulnerability represents a classic server-side template injection issue where user-controllable data flows directly into rendered HTML content without appropriate sanitization.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability enables attackers to perform session hijacking, credential theft, and data exfiltration attacks against authenticated users of the NetIQ Access Manager system. The attacker can leverage this flaw to steal session cookies, modify user permissions, or redirect users to malicious sites. The attack surface is particularly concerning as it affects the core authentication and authorization mechanisms of the platform, potentially allowing privilege escalation and unauthorized access to protected resources. This vulnerability directly maps to several ATT&CK techniques including T1566 for phishing attacks and T1071 for application layer protocol usage, as the malicious payloads can be delivered through the OAuth integration framework.
Organizations utilizing affected NetIQ Access Manager versions face significant security risks including potential data breaches, unauthorized access to sensitive systems, and compromise of user authentication tokens. The vulnerability's impact extends beyond immediate exploitation as it undermines the trust model of the authentication system, potentially allowing attackers to establish persistent access to enterprise networks. The remediation process requires immediate patching of the affected software versions, implementation of proper input validation and output encoding mechanisms, and comprehensive security testing of all OAuth integration points. Security teams should also implement network monitoring to detect potential exploitation attempts and establish incident response procedures for rapid mitigation of any successful attacks.