CVE-2017-7463 in JBoss BRMS
Summary
by MITRE
JBoss BRMS 6 and BPM Suite 6 before 6.4.3 are vulnerable to a reflected XSS via artifact upload. A malformed XML file, if uploaded, causes an error message to appear that includes part of the bad XML code verbatim without filtering out scripts. Successful exploitation would allow execution of script code within the context of the affected user.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/27/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-7463 affects JBoss Business Rules Management System BRMS 6 and Business Process Management Suite BPM Suite 6 versions prior to 6.4.3. This represents a critical security flaw that exposes organizations using these enterprise business management platforms to potential cross-site scripting attacks. The vulnerability specifically manifests during the artifact upload process where the system fails to properly sanitize user input before displaying error messages to end users.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and output encoding within the XML parsing functionality of the affected JBoss platforms. When users attempt to upload malformed XML files through the artifact upload mechanism, the system generates error messages that contain portions of the uploaded XML content verbatim. This lack of proper sanitization creates an environment where malicious scripts can be embedded within the XML payload and subsequently executed when the error message is rendered in a user's browser. The vulnerability directly maps to CWE-79 which defines Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) as a weakness where untrusted data is sent to a web browser without proper validation or encoding.
From an operational perspective, successful exploitation of this vulnerability allows attackers to execute arbitrary JavaScript code within the context of the victim's browser session. This means that an attacker could potentially steal session cookies, perform actions on behalf of authenticated users, redirect victims to malicious websites, or even escalate privileges within the application environment. The reflected nature of this XSS attack indicates that the malicious payload is injected through the application's input processing rather than being stored persistently, making it particularly dangerous for web applications that process user-supplied data.
The attack vector for this vulnerability specifically targets the artifact upload functionality of JBoss BRMS and BPM Suite environments. Attackers would need to prepare a malicious XML file containing embedded script tags that would be processed by the vulnerable system. Once uploaded and processed, the system's error handling mechanism would display the script code in the error message, leading to script execution in the victim's browser. This attack pattern aligns with ATT&CK technique T1059.007 for Command and Scripting Interpreter and T1566 for Phishing, as it leverages user interaction with error messages to deliver malicious payloads.
Organizations should immediately apply the vendor-provided patches for JBoss BRMS 6 and BPM Suite 6 versions prior to 6.4.3 to remediate this vulnerability. Additionally, implementing proper input validation and output encoding mechanisms for all user-supplied data, particularly XML content, would provide defense-in-depth against similar vulnerabilities. Network segmentation and web application firewalls can also help detect and prevent malicious upload attempts. The vulnerability highlights the critical importance of proper sanitization of user input in enterprise applications and demonstrates how seemingly benign error handling can become a security risk when insufficiently validated.