CVE-2017-8129 in UMA
Summary
by MITRE
The UMA product with software V200R001 and V300R001 has a privilege elevation vulnerability due to insufficient validation or improper processing of parameters. An attacker could craft specific packets to exploit these vulnerabilities to gain elevated privileges.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/11/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-8129 affects the UMA (Unified Management Architecture) product line, specifically versions V200R001 and V300R001, representing a critical privilege escalation weakness that directly impacts system security posture. This flaw stems from inadequate input validation mechanisms within the software's parameter processing architecture, creating an exploitable condition that allows malicious actors to elevate their access rights without proper authentication or authorization. The vulnerability manifests through improper handling of crafted network packets that, when processed by the affected system, trigger unexpected behavior leading to unauthorized privilege elevation.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability aligns with CWE-20, which addresses improper input validation, and CWE-78, covering improper neutralization of special elements used in OS commands. The insufficient parameter validation creates a pathway for attackers to manipulate system behavior through specially crafted packet structures that bypass normal access controls. When the UMA system processes these malformed packets, the improper parameter handling allows malicious input to be interpreted as legitimate administrative commands, effectively enabling privilege escalation from standard user level to elevated administrative privileges. This represents a fundamental breakdown in the system's security model where input sanitization fails to prevent malicious payloads from being executed with higher privileges.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents a severe risk to organizations relying on the affected UMA versions, as successful exploitation could allow attackers to gain complete administrative control over the managed systems. The impact extends beyond simple privilege escalation to encompass potential data breaches, system compromise, and unauthorized access to sensitive network resources. Attackers could leverage this vulnerability to modify system configurations, install malicious software, or exfiltrate confidential information without detection, making it particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where UMA systems typically manage critical network infrastructure. The vulnerability's exploitation requires minimal skill and can be automated, increasing its threat potential and making it attractive to both opportunistic and targeted attackers.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying the vendor-provided security patches and updates specifically designed to address the parameter validation flaws in the affected UMA versions. Network segmentation and access control measures should be enhanced to limit exposure of the vulnerable systems, while continuous monitoring should be implemented to detect potential exploitation attempts. The mitigation strategy should also include regular security assessments of the UMA infrastructure to identify additional vulnerabilities and ensure proper configuration management. Security teams should consider implementing intrusion detection systems specifically tuned to detect the signature patterns associated with this vulnerability, as well as conducting regular vulnerability scanning to identify any unpatched systems within the network infrastructure. This vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of proper input validation and parameter handling in security-critical systems, aligning with ATT&CK technique T1068 which covers exploit for privilege escalation.