CVE-2018-2019 in Security Identity Manager
Summary
by MITRE
IBM Security Identity Manager 6.0.0 Virtual Appliance is vulnerable to a XML External Entity Injection (XXE) attack when processing XML data. A remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to expose sensitive information or consume memory resources. IBM X-Force ID: 155265.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/01/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-2019 affects IBM Security Identity Manager 6.0.0 Virtual Appliance and represents a critical XML External Entity Injection flaw that allows remote attackers to manipulate XML processing mechanisms. This vulnerability falls under the Common Weakness Enumeration category CWE-611, which specifically addresses XML external entity injection vulnerabilities that occur when XML processors fail to properly validate or sanitize external entity references. The flaw exists in the appliance's XML data processing functionality, where the system does not adequately restrict external entity resolution during XML parsing operations, creating an attack surface that can be exploited by malicious actors without requiring authentication or privileged access.
The technical exploitation of this XXE vulnerability enables attackers to perform several harmful operations including information disclosure through retrieval of sensitive files from the server filesystem, denial of service via memory exhaustion attacks, and potential privilege escalation within the appliance environment. Attackers can craft malicious XML payloads that reference external entities hosted on attacker-controlled servers, allowing them to read local files that should normally be restricted, such as configuration files, credential stores, or system directories. The vulnerability particularly impacts the virtual appliance's ability to process incoming XML data from untrusted sources, making any XML-based API endpoints, configuration imports, or data exchange mechanisms susceptible to exploitation. This weakness creates a persistent threat vector that can be leveraged to gain unauthorized access to sensitive organizational data and infrastructure components.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data exposure, as it can lead to complete system compromise and unauthorized access to identity management functions that control user authentication and authorization processes. Organizations relying on IBM Security Identity Manager for critical identity services face significant risk of credential theft, unauthorized user access, and potential lateral movement within their network infrastructure. The vulnerability affects the appliance's core functionality for processing identity data, which could result in service disruption, data corruption, or complete system compromise. From an attack perspective, this vulnerability aligns with MITRE ATT&CK techniques such as T1059.007 for XML external entity injection and T1078 for valid accounts exploitation, making it particularly dangerous for enterprise environments where identity management systems serve as critical infrastructure components.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should include immediate patch application from IBM Security, which addresses the XML processing validation issues in the appliance's XML parser. Organizations should also implement network segmentation to limit access to the appliance, deploy XML firewalling solutions to filter malicious XML content, and establish strict input validation controls for all XML data processing operations. Additionally, monitoring and logging of XML processing activities should be enhanced to detect potential exploitation attempts. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper XML processing security controls and highlights the need for organizations to maintain current security patches for identity management systems. Security teams should also conduct comprehensive vulnerability assessments of all XML-based services and implement defense-in-depth strategies that include regular security testing, network monitoring, and access control reviews to prevent exploitation of similar vulnerabilities in related systems.