CVE-2018-1190 in Cloud Foundry
Summary
by MITRE
An issue was discovered in these Pivotal Cloud Foundry products: all versions prior to cf-release v270, UAA v3.x prior to v3.20.2, and UAA bosh v30.x versions prior to v30.8 and all other versions prior to v45.0. A cross-site scripting (XSS) attack is possible in the clientId parameter of a request to the UAA OpenID Connect check session iframe endpoint used for single logout session management.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/28/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-1190 represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw within Pivotal Cloud Foundry's User Account and Authentication (UAA) service that affects multiple product versions. This issue specifically targets the OpenID Connect check session iframe endpoint which is utilized for managing single logout session states across applications. The vulnerability exists in the handling of the clientId parameter, which is processed without proper input sanitization or output encoding, creating an exploitable vector for malicious actors to inject arbitrary JavaScript code into the application's response.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate parameter validation within the UAA service's OpenID Connect implementation. When the system processes requests to the check session iframe endpoint, it fails to properly sanitize the clientId parameter before incorporating it into the response HTML. This oversight allows attackers to craft malicious requests containing script tags or other XSS payloads within the clientId value. The flaw manifests as a classic reflected XSS vulnerability where the malicious payload is executed in the context of the victim's browser session, potentially enabling session hijacking, credential theft, or unauthorized application access. According to CWE-79, this vulnerability directly maps to Cross-Site Scripting flaws in input handling, while the ATT&CK framework categorizes this under T1203 - Exploitation for Client Execution.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution as it compromises the core security of Cloud Foundry's authentication infrastructure. Attackers could exploit this flaw to steal user sessions, access sensitive application data, or perform unauthorized administrative actions within the Cloud Foundry environment. The single logout functionality that relies on this endpoint becomes a critical attack surface, potentially allowing adversaries to disrupt session management across multiple applications that depend on the UAA service. Organizations using affected versions of Pivotal Cloud Foundry face significant risk of credential compromise and unauthorized access to their cloud infrastructure, particularly in multi-tenant environments where session management is critical for maintaining isolation between different user groups.
The remediation strategy for CVE-2018-1190 requires immediate deployment of patched versions of the affected components. Organizations must upgrade to cf-release v270 or later, UAA v3.20.2 or later, and UAA bosh v30.8 or later for the respective version ranges. The patch implementation involves proper input validation and output encoding of the clientId parameter, ensuring that all user-supplied data is sanitized before being incorporated into HTML responses. Security teams should also implement additional monitoring for suspicious requests to the check session endpoint and consider deploying web application firewalls to detect and block potential exploitation attempts. Organizations should conduct comprehensive vulnerability assessments to identify any other endpoints that might share similar input handling patterns, as this vulnerability highlights a broader issue in the UAA service's security posture. The fix aligns with industry best practices for XSS prevention as outlined in OWASP Top 10 and NIST guidelines for secure coding practices.