CVE-2018-1736 in WebSphere Portal
Summary
by MITRE
IBM WebSphere Portal 7.0, 8.0, 8.5, and 9.0 could allow a remote attacker to conduct phishing attacks, using an open redirect attack. By persuading a victim to visit a specially-crafted Web site, a remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to spoof the URL displayed to redirect a user to a malicious Web site that would appear to be trusted. This could allow the attacker to obtain highly sensitive information or conduct further attacks against the victim. IBM X-Force ID: 147906.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/19/2023
This vulnerability in IBM WebSphere Portal versions 7.0, 8.0, 8.5, and 9.0 represents a critical open redirect flaw that enables sophisticated phishing attacks through malicious URL manipulation. The vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and sanitization within the portal's redirect functionality, allowing attackers to craft deceptive URLs that appear legitimate while actually directing users to malicious destinations. This weakness specifically affects the portal's ability to properly validate redirect parameters, creating an attack vector where malicious actors can exploit trust relationships between users and the portal application. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-601 Open Redirect vulnerability classification, which specifically addresses situations where applications redirect users to external sites without proper validation, creating opportunities for social engineering attacks.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple phishing attempts to encompass comprehensive credential theft and advanced persistent threat scenarios. When users encounter a spoofed URL that appears to originate from a trusted WebSphere Portal domain, they are more likely to engage with malicious content due to the perceived legitimacy of the redirection source. Attackers can leverage this trust to harvest authentication credentials, personal information, or sensitive corporate data through carefully crafted malicious endpoints. The vulnerability's remote exploitability means attackers can initiate attacks from anywhere on the internet without requiring physical access or local network presence. This characteristic significantly amplifies the attack surface and makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where WebSphere Portal serves as a central authentication and content delivery platform. The attack pattern follows typical phishing methodologies described in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the T1566 credential harvesting technique, where attackers use deceptive web content to obtain user credentials.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should implement immediate mitigations including strict input validation of redirect parameters, implementation of allowlists for legitimate redirect destinations, and deployment of web application firewalls to filter suspicious redirect attempts. The recommended approach involves configuring the portal to only accept redirect URLs from explicitly trusted domains and implementing comprehensive logging to detect suspicious redirect patterns. Security teams should also consider implementing user education programs to increase awareness of phishing indicators and establish monitoring procedures for detecting potential exploitation attempts. Additional protective measures include disabling unnecessary redirect functionality where possible, implementing proper URL encoding validation, and conducting regular security assessments to identify similar vulnerabilities in related applications. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of validating all user-supplied input in web applications, particularly in authentication and redirect mechanisms where trust relationships are established. Organizations should also consider implementing security headers such as Content Security Policy to prevent unauthorized redirects and establish comprehensive incident response procedures for detecting and responding to successful exploitation attempts.