CVE-2019-1937 in Integrated Management Controller
Summary
by MITRE
A vulnerability in the web-based management interface of Cisco Integrated Management Controller (IMC) Supervisor, Cisco UCS Director, and Cisco UCS Director Express for Big Data could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to acquire a valid session token with administrator privileges, bypassing user authentication. The vulnerability is due to insufficient request header validation during the authentication process. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a series of malicious requests to an affected device. An exploit could allow the attacker to use the acquired session token to gain full administrator access to the affected device.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/15/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2019-1937 represents a critical authentication bypass flaw affecting Cisco's integrated management solutions including the Integrated Management Controller Supervisor, Cisco UCS Director, and Cisco UCS Director Express for Big Data. This weakness resides within the web-based management interface authentication mechanism, specifically targeting the validation of request headers during the session establishment process. The flaw allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to escalate privileges without requiring valid credentials, fundamentally undermining the security posture of affected systems. The vulnerability demonstrates a classic case of insufficient input validation where the system fails to properly verify the authenticity and integrity of incoming HTTP headers that should be critical for establishing legitimate administrative sessions.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through carefully crafted malicious requests that manipulate the authentication flow by leveraging weaknesses in header validation. Attackers can construct specific HTTP requests that bypass normal authentication checks, resulting in the generation of valid session tokens that grant full administrative privileges. This type of vulnerability falls under CWE-287 which addresses improper authentication issues, specifically targeting the failure to validate authentication parameters properly. The attack vector is particularly dangerous because it requires no prior authentication credentials and can be executed remotely, making it accessible to any attacker with network access to the affected systems. The flaw essentially allows privilege escalation through manipulation of the session management process rather than traditional credential guessing or brute force attacks.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and far-reaching across enterprise environments that utilize Cisco's management solutions. Successful exploitation enables attackers to gain complete administrative control over affected devices, providing access to sensitive configuration data, system management functions, and potentially access to underlying network infrastructure. This level of access could facilitate further lateral movement within the network, data exfiltration, or the deployment of additional malicious tools. The vulnerability affects multiple Cisco products within the unified computing system ecosystem, creating widespread potential impact across organizations that rely on these management interfaces for their infrastructure operations. Organizations may face significant compliance violations and regulatory penalties if compromised systems contain sensitive data, particularly in regulated industries such as healthcare, financial services, or government sectors.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2019-1937 should prioritize immediate patch application from Cisco as the primary defense mechanism, addressing the root cause through official firmware updates that correct the insufficient header validation. Network segmentation and access control measures should be implemented to limit exposure of management interfaces to untrusted networks, while monitoring systems should be configured to detect anomalous authentication patterns or unusual session token generation. Additional defensive measures include implementing strong network access controls such as firewalls and access control lists to restrict access to management ports, deploying intrusion detection systems that can identify suspicious request patterns, and establishing robust session management policies including short session timeouts and regular token rotation. Organizations should also consider implementing multi-factor authentication where possible and maintain comprehensive audit logging of all administrative activities to detect potential exploitation attempts. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of proper authentication flow validation and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1078 which covers valid accounts and privilege escalation through legitimate administrative access.