CVE-2018-1622 in Security Privileged Identity Manager Virtual Appliance
Summary
by MITRE
IBM Security Privileged Identity Manager Virtual Appliance 2.2.1 is vulnerable to cross-site request forgery which could allow an attacker to execute malicious and unauthorized actions transmitted from a user that the website trusts. IBM X-Force ID: 144348.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/21/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-1622 affects IBM Security Privileged Identity Manager Virtual Appliance version 2.2.1 and represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw that undermines the security posture of privileged identity management systems. This vulnerability resides within the web-based administrative interface of the appliance, which serves as a central hub for managing privileged accounts and access controls within enterprise environments. The flaw enables attackers to manipulate authenticated sessions and execute unauthorized operations through carefully crafted malicious requests that appear legitimate to the targeted system.
The technical implementation of this cross-site request forgery vulnerability stems from insufficient validation of request origins and lack of proper anti-CSRF token implementation within the appliance's web interface. When a privileged user accesses the virtual appliance's administrative functions, the system should verify that requests originate from legitimate sources and contain appropriate authentication tokens. However, the vulnerable implementation fails to adequately validate these security mechanisms, allowing attackers to craft malicious web pages or send specially crafted requests that exploit the trust relationship between the appliance and authenticated users. This weakness specifically aligns with CWE-352, which categorizes cross-site request forgery vulnerabilities as a critical threat to web application security, where the attacker can perform actions on behalf of authenticated users without their knowledge or consent.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends far beyond simple data theft or modification, as it directly compromises the integrity of privileged identity management processes that are fundamental to enterprise security infrastructure. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability could potentially escalate privileges, modify user access controls, disable security features, or even gain complete administrative control over the privileged identity management system. This risk is particularly severe given that the appliance manages sensitive privileged accounts and access credentials that are critical for maintaining organizational security boundaries. The vulnerability affects the core security functionality of the system, potentially allowing attackers to bypass multi-factor authentication mechanisms and establish persistent access to critical systems. Organizations relying on this appliance for privileged access management face significant exposure to lateral movement attacks, insider threat exploitation, and advanced persistent threat campaigns that leverage such authentication bypass capabilities.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2018-1622 should prioritize immediate patching of the vulnerable appliance to the latest supported version that addresses the CSRF implementation flaws. Organizations must ensure that all administrative interfaces for privileged identity management systems implement robust CSRF protection mechanisms including the use of anti-CSRF tokens, proper origin validation, and secure session management practices. Network segmentation and access controls should be implemented to limit direct administrative access to the appliance, while monitoring solutions should be configured to detect anomalous administrative activities that could indicate exploitation attempts. Security teams should also conduct comprehensive vulnerability assessments of related systems that may be exposed to similar CSRF vulnerabilities, particularly those managing privileged accounts or access controls. The remediation process should include thorough testing of the patched environment to ensure that legitimate administrative functions remain operational while the CSRF vulnerability is properly addressed. Additionally, organizations should implement security awareness training for administrators to recognize potential social engineering attempts that could exploit this vulnerability, and establish incident response procedures specifically designed to address authenticated session manipulation attacks. This vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date security controls and implementing defense-in-depth strategies to protect privileged identity management systems from exploitation attempts that target fundamental authentication and authorization mechanisms.