CVE-2018-15402 in Enterprise NFV Infrastructure Software
Summary
by MITRE
A vulnerability in Cisco Enterprise NFV Infrastructure Software (NFVIS) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to conduct cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attacks. The vulnerability is due to improper validation of Origin headers on HTTP requests within the management interface. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by convincing a targeted user to follow a URL to a malicious website. An exploit could allow the attacker to take actions within the software with the privileges of the targeted user or gain access to sensitive information.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/05/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-15402 affects Cisco Enterprise NFV Infrastructure Software (NFVIS) and represents a critical cross-site request forgery weakness that undermines the security posture of network virtualization environments. This flaw exists within the management interface of NFVIS, which serves as the primary control plane for managing virtualized network services in enterprise deployments. The vulnerability stems from inadequate validation mechanisms for HTTP Origin headers, which are crucial for establishing the legitimate source of web requests. When these headers are not properly verified, the system cannot distinguish between authorized requests originating from legitimate administrative interfaces and malicious requests crafted by attackers. This weakness particularly impacts organizations that rely on NFVIS for managing their virtualized network functions, as it creates an attack surface that can be exploited without requiring authentication credentials.
The technical exploitation of this CSRF vulnerability occurs through a sophisticated social engineering attack vector where an attacker crafts malicious web pages designed to initiate unauthorized actions against the vulnerable NFVIS management interface. The attack leverages the fact that when a user navigates to a malicious website while authenticated to the NFVIS system, the browser automatically includes the necessary cookies and session information in requests to the target system. Since the Origin header validation is insufficient, the NFVIS software processes these malicious requests as if they originated from legitimate administrative sessions. This flaw aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery vulnerabilities in web applications. The attack requires minimal privileges from the attacker since they only need to convince a legitimate user to visit a malicious website, making it particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where users may have elevated administrative privileges.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple unauthorized access to potentially catastrophic consequences for network infrastructure security. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability could perform administrative actions such as creating new user accounts, modifying network configurations, accessing sensitive operational data, or even disrupting network services entirely. The privilege escalation potential is significant since the targeted users within NFVIS management interfaces often possess extensive administrative rights over the virtualized network infrastructure. This vulnerability directly impacts the integrity and availability of enterprise network services, as demonstrated by ATT&CK technique T1078 which covers valid accounts usage for persistence and privilege escalation. Organizations using NFVIS may experience unauthorized configuration changes, data exfiltration, or service disruption that could affect business continuity and regulatory compliance requirements for network security.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations to address this vulnerability, including applying the latest security patches provided by Cisco, implementing proper Origin header validation at the network level, and deploying web application firewalls to monitor and filter suspicious requests. Network segmentation strategies should be employed to isolate the NFVIS management interface from untrusted networks, and administrative access should be restricted to trusted IP addresses only. Regular security audits of web applications and management interfaces are essential to identify similar validation weaknesses, while user education programs should emphasize the dangers of visiting untrusted websites while authenticated to sensitive systems. The remediation approach should align with NIST SP 800-53 security controls, particularly those related to access control and system monitoring. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing multi-factor authentication for administrative access and regularly review session management policies to prevent unauthorized access through session hijacking or similar attacks.