CVE-2020-11660 in API Developer Portal
Summary
by MITRE
CA API Developer Portal 4.3.1 and earlier contains an access control flaw that allows privileged users to view restricted sensitive information.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/27/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2020-11660 affects CA API Developer Portal version 4.3.1 and earlier, representing a critical access control flaw that undermines the security posture of the platform. This issue stems from insufficient authorization checks within the application's permission model, allowing authenticated users with elevated privileges to bypass intended access restrictions and gain visibility into sensitive data that should be restricted to specific roles or administrators. The flaw exists in the portal's information disclosure mechanism where proper access controls fail to validate user permissions before exposing confidential information.
This vulnerability falls under the CWE-285 access control weakness category, specifically manifesting as insufficient authorization checks that enable unauthorized information disclosure. The technical implementation appears to lack proper role-based access control validation mechanisms, allowing privileged users to manipulate API calls or direct requests to restricted endpoints without adequate permission verification. The flaw operates at the application layer where authentication tokens or session identifiers may be sufficient to access data that should require additional authorization levels beyond basic authentication.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple information disclosure, as it creates potential for data exfiltration and privilege escalation within the API management ecosystem. Attackers could leverage this flaw to access sensitive configuration details, user credentials, API keys, or other confidential information that should remain restricted to authorized administrators or specific user groups. The vulnerability particularly affects organizations relying on CA API Developer Portal for managing enterprise API ecosystems where sensitive data exposure could compromise entire API infrastructure and associated services.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including upgrading to patched versions of CA API Developer Portal, implementing additional network segmentation controls, and conducting thorough access control reviews. The remediation process should involve validating all user roles and permissions, implementing proper logging and monitoring of access attempts to restricted resources, and ensuring that the application enforces strict authorization checks at every interaction point. Security teams should also consider implementing automated vulnerability scanning tools that can detect similar access control flaws in other applications within the infrastructure. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this vulnerability under privilege escalation and credential access tactics, emphasizing the need for comprehensive access control monitoring and robust identity management practices to prevent exploitation of such flaws.