CVE-2018-1255 in RSA Identity Lifecycle
Summary
by MITRE
RSA Identity Lifecycle and Governance versions 7.0.1, 7.0.2 and 7.1.0 contains a reflected cross-site scripting vulnerability. A remote unauthenticated attacker could potentially exploit this vulnerability by tricking a victim application user to supply malicious HTML or JavaScript code to a vulnerable web application, which is then reflected back to the victim and executed by the web browser.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/09/2023
The RSA Identity Lifecycle and Governance platform version 7.0.1, 7.0.2, and 7.1.0 contains a critical reflected cross-site scripting vulnerability that represents a significant security risk for organizations relying on this identity governance solution. This vulnerability falls under the CWE-79 category of Cross-Site Scripting and specifically manifests as a reflected XSS flaw in the web application's input handling mechanisms. The vulnerability exists in the application's response to user-supplied input that is not properly sanitized or encoded before being returned to the victim user's browser. Attackers can exploit this weakness by crafting malicious payloads that appear to originate from legitimate application sources, making the attack more convincing and harder to detect. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it requires no authentication to exploit, making it accessible to any remote attacker who can influence the application's response to user input. This creates a scenario where an attacker can successfully deliver malicious code that executes in the context of a victim user's browser session, potentially leading to complete compromise of the user's access rights and sensitive data within the governance platform.
The technical exploitation of this reflected XSS vulnerability occurs when an attacker crafts a malicious URL containing JavaScript code that is then submitted to the vulnerable application. When a victim user clicks on this crafted link, the malicious code becomes embedded in the application's response and is subsequently executed by the victim's browser. The reflected nature of the vulnerability means that the malicious payload is not stored on the server but is instead reflected back from the application's response, making it difficult to detect through traditional security scanning methods. The attack vector typically involves manipulation of parameters in the web application's URL structure or form inputs, where the application fails to properly validate or sanitize user-supplied data before incorporating it into the HTTP response. This vulnerability specifically affects the authentication and session management components of the RSA Identity Lifecycle and Governance platform, potentially allowing attackers to hijack user sessions, steal authentication tokens, or perform unauthorized actions within the application's administrative interface. The exploitation chain relies on social engineering techniques where victims are tricked into clicking malicious links, making this attack particularly effective in phishing campaigns or when targeting specific users within an organization.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution, as it can enable attackers to perform sophisticated attacks that compromise the integrity of the entire identity governance system. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability could potentially escalate privileges, access sensitive user data, modify identity records, or even gain administrative access to the platform. The reflected nature of the XSS attack means that the malicious code executes in the victim's browser context with the same privileges as the legitimate user, potentially allowing for session hijacking, credential theft, or data exfiltration. Organizations using this platform may face regulatory compliance issues if sensitive identity information is compromised, as the vulnerability could enable attackers to access personal identifiable information or corporate credentials stored within the governance system. The attack could also facilitate broader network compromise if the compromised user has elevated privileges within the organization's identity infrastructure, potentially allowing lateral movement attacks or access to other systems that rely on the identity governance platform for authentication and authorization decisions. This vulnerability particularly impacts organizations that depend heavily on RSA Identity Lifecycle and Governance for managing user access and identity provisioning, as the compromise of a single user session could provide access to critical identity management functions.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including input validation and output encoding mechanisms to prevent malicious code from being reflected back to users. The most effective defense involves implementing proper parameter validation and HTML encoding for all user-supplied input before it is incorporated into application responses, which aligns with the OWASP Top Ten security practices and the ATT&CK framework's mitigation strategies for web application attacks. Network-level protections such as web application firewalls and content security policies can provide additional layers of defense by blocking known malicious payloads and preventing script execution in the browser context. Regular security updates and patches should be applied immediately upon availability, as this vulnerability was addressed in subsequent versions of the RSA Identity Lifecycle and Governance platform. Security awareness training for administrators and users can help reduce the risk of successful social engineering attacks that leverage this vulnerability, while monitoring for unusual access patterns or suspicious user activities can help detect potential exploitation attempts. Organizations should also consider implementing strict access controls and session management policies to limit the damage that could result from a successful XSS attack, ensuring that even if an attacker gains access through this vulnerability, they cannot escalate privileges or access unauthorized data within the platform.